Virginia Wayne Portrait 2013

This is Felice House’s portrait of Virginia Wayne, an oil on canvas. It's immediately clear that the artist is deeply engaged with the traditions of painting. But look closely. The brushstrokes are not blended perfectly smoothly, and the subject's clothing has the quality of workwear. These slight disruptions serve as an important reminder that even a familiar genre like portraiture is constructed through labor. The subject's cowboy hat and scarf hint at the social context of the artwork, gesturing towards the rural history of America. What's most important here is the way House encourages us to rethink what we mean by value and beauty. By bringing the conventions of painting to bear on ordinary subjects, she challenges the long-standing hierarchy between fine art and the everyday, revealing the artfulness inherent in both.