Humanity. My current artistic obsession is with humanity generally and human interactions more specifically. I have spent many decades painting various literal subjects such as portraits, landscapes, still-lifes, genre scenes depicting acts of every day life, in a realistic mode. Now, however, I am strongly attracted to using this realistic painting ability to speak about social issues, interpersonal relationships, the nexus of human caring and the terror of human abuse. And, although realism is my preferred technique to use to convey my feelings and intent, these paintings must also be imbued with a spiritual, magical play of light and color that shift the image from pure realism to an image with transcending emotion. All of my current art now must be accompanied by brushwork, color, non-literal highlighting that produces an emotional response along with the human subject interaction depicted. To me, currently, there are endless human interactions that are compelling and crying out to be made into a unique artistic image.

 

- Judith Mehr