Description
‘Smile#3’ by Zach Mendoza
Artist: Zach Mendoza
Title: ‘Smile#3’
Medium: Oil an ink on panel
Dimensions: 7″ x 5″
Framing: Unfamed
Year of Creation: 2022
About the Artwork:
“When I was in art school, I was told never to paint a smiling portrait as this would appear unnatural. This unnaturalness is something that I’ve found fun to explore in a series of smile portraits that I’ve been working on for the past year and a half. I am fascinated with the subtleties of human expression and a smile has many gradations. Somehow in most of my explorations, they become sinister or sadistic when re-contextualized on dark backgrounds and when stripped away of all of the features that would otherwise allow them to form some sort of personhood or likeness. A smile with an underlined darkness is the most unsettling.
I have plans to continue this series in some larger works. When I first began this theme, I thought a lot about Kierkegaard’s writing and the following quote “When I was very young and in the cave of Trophonius, I forgot to laugh. Then when I got older and saw the real world, I began to laugh and haven’t stopped since.” Smiles and laughter can be defiant as well and this is a theme I’d like to explore further.” – Zach Mendoza
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Zach Mendoza is a painter currently based in Houston, TX with a growing exhibition history of solo and group shows throughout the United States. His work has been included in New American Paintings, Creative Quarterly and in online publications as well.