40” x 30”
Oil on Canvas
This piece is a contemporary figurative portrait exploring beauty, individuality, and optimism through a highly stylized visual language. The portrait combines polished facial rendering with graphic pattern, saturated red accents, dramatic dark textures, and luminous gold paint. Geometric forms in the background echo the gold highlights of the figure's jewelry and clothing, while the oversized red glasses and richly textured black garment create strong visual contrast. Part of the artist's Valley Girl series, the work celebrates women from Northern Utah through contemporary portraiture that combines fashion, personality, symbolism, and expressive realism. The gold background serves as both a formal element and a symbolic reference to the perceived nobility and value of the subjects portrayed.
"I was trapped in a pseudo-academic whirlwind of heady oil paintings, dealing with themes of existentialism and nihilism—coping with the contours of mortality and meaninglessness.
I had to separate myself from that line of inquiry for spiritual reasons, including, but not limited to, my own mortal preservation. I concluded that if I was going to survive the assaults of my own indulgently tormented psyche, I would need to explore aesthetic terrain that was more ennobling and optimistic.
Thus was born the Valley Girl series.
Beautiful girls, from a beautiful valley in Northern Utah, shown for their uniqueness, charm, and compassion, highlighted by gold—a nod to the caliber of their hearts and the nobility of their spirits.
We have these problematic brains that recognize and remember negativity and chaos more readily than commonplace kindness and subtle, persistent order.
I want this series to serve as a reminder that life is full of positivity if we have eyes to see it." -Tanner Stephenson
40” x 30”
Oil on Canvas
This piece is a contemporary figurative portrait exploring beauty, individuality, and optimism through a highly stylized visual language. The portrait combines polished facial rendering with graphic pattern, saturated red accents, dramatic dark textures, and luminous gold paint. Geometric forms in the background echo the gold highlights of the figure's jewelry and clothing, while the oversized red glasses and richly textured black garment create strong visual contrast. Part of the artist's Valley Girl series, the work celebrates women from Northern Utah through contemporary portraiture that combines fashion, personality, symbolism, and expressive realism. The gold background serves as both a formal element and a symbolic reference to the perceived nobility and value of the subjects portrayed.
"I was trapped in a pseudo-academic whirlwind of heady oil paintings, dealing with themes of existentialism and nihilism—coping with the contours of mortality and meaninglessness.
I had to separate myself from that line of inquiry for spiritual reasons, including, but not limited to, my own mortal preservation. I concluded that if I was going to survive the assaults of my own indulgently tormented psyche, I would need to explore aesthetic terrain that was more ennobling and optimistic.
Thus was born the Valley Girl series.
Beautiful girls, from a beautiful valley in Northern Utah, shown for their uniqueness, charm, and compassion, highlighted by gold—a nod to the caliber of their hearts and the nobility of their spirits.
We have these problematic brains that recognize and remember negativity and chaos more readily than commonplace kindness and subtle, persistent order.
I want this series to serve as a reminder that life is full of positivity if we have eyes to see it." -Tanner Stephenson
