I suspect that humankind is among our known world’s more curious and ambitious creations. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to pore over and study such interesting and beautiful beings, and try to capture and portray their essence and spirit, and convey their presence. A diagram of what I think I do would be an hourglass shape; the subject brings a lifetime’s volume of experience and feeling to a particular moment, and we have a few hours of quiet representation and interpretation. The resulting painting then is there to be enjoyed or dismissed, interpreted and projected upon for the duration of its existence. And with the completion of the painting, the sand has ceased to run through the constricted aperture of the hourglass, and all is still; the viewer is given the opportunity and permission to stop and stare, to pry and wonder; to linger. The subject and painter have shared a singular moment in time, in intimacy, which they know full well will be shared with others.
Jay Giliberty paints in oil, on canvas, in Portland, Oregon. With a background in architecture, with lots of coursework in drawing, he is largely a self-taught painter. He finds the human figure to be forgivingly exquisite and endlessly forthcoming, and a pleasure to study with this medium. All the paintings, unless otherwise noted, are from life, with generous and patient models.
“His style is distinctly American and all his own. He does gorgeous work.” Daniel Liam Gill.