ELIZABETH LATELLA
Painting models, friends, and family, I pay attention to how someone holds his or herself. I look for the larger shapes that make up a body. Drawings remind me of my initial notes of that person’s important shapes. Then I pick the leading visual roles to amplify who the person is to me. As time passes while painting, central contrasts or focus points of the body emerge. Sometimes it’s a subtle emotion, sometimes an exaggerated muscle against a calmer limb. Working large, I draw the important moments with energy and momentum. I draw, redraw, experiment, describe important forms, and paint.
Pastel on pumiced canvas provides a bounce and forgiveness that I enjoy. This allows working firmly or reworking areas. I also search for texture whenever possible. Away from the light of digital screens the pendulum of my work swings toward everything layered and woven. Textured shadows give me greater opportunities to explore the colors of the human skin. And against those shadows, the light offers chances for the unique forms of individuals to be slowly and dazzlingly revealed.
Merits
2018 Member of The Art Students League of New York
2017 Fantasy Fountain Fund Travel Grant
2017 Paris American Academy Certificate of Fine Art
2015 The Art Students League of New York Merit Award for Realism
2013 Bachelor of Fine Art in Illustration, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University
2007-2018 Student, The Art Students League of New York