Brooklyn, NEW YORK—A lively group is hanging out in Vivian Outlaw‘s studio at Screwball Spaces in Red Hook. The portrait artist captures her friends and family, and also paints commissioned portraits, in a colorful expressionist style that viewers often say reminds them of Alice Neel (1900-1984). Exuding personality, the oil on canvas works are almost three-dimensional depictions of their subjects.
Detail of an in-progress commissioned portrait of a man relaxing on his sofa.
Outlaw is one of hundreds of artists working throughout the Brooklyn who participated in the Brooklyn Museum’s GO Brooklyn open studios event over the weekend (Sept. 8 and 9). The community-curated project that will determine the artists chosen for a group exhibit at the museum in December.
Visit Outlaw’s GO Brooklyn page here.
Explore work by a selection of other artists at Screwball Spaces participating in GO Brooklyn here.
All photos © Arts Observer
Above, Several canvases, including “Christmas Card,” a portrait of the artist and her husband, at right, lean against the walls of her studio.
Detail of “Maria and Sim,” 2008 (oil on canvas).
A selection of works in Outlaw’s studio.
A portrait of Outlaw’s parents on the subway.
Outlaw’s husband works with a circus, which inspired a series of portraits she has painted of circus personalities.
Another portrait from Outlaw’s circus series.
At left, An in-progress portrait. The photograph that inspired it is taped above the canvas.