Dancing
These paintings are simply about having fun. I typically make art about dark topics and decided to do something more joyful. I spent a while trying to figure out what I could paint that would not only depict joy, but would also make me feel joyful while painting and look at it. I really started to overthink and realized that defeated the whole point of this idea. While hanging out with my friend one day, I got the idea to paint dancing. To me, dancing is such a vulnerable and emotional act, but when it’s done shamelessly it’s one of the best representations of joy. I asked her if I could set up my camera and have her dance for my painting and she enthusiastically agreed. I had originally intended to just film her dancing for a bit, but immediately when we turned on music she pulled me in and had me dance with her. What I expected to just be a couple minutes of my friend dancing simply for a reference ended up being twenty minutes of us obnoxiously and loudly dancing at nine in the morning. And the best part was that I actually felt happy, and I hope that came across in my paintings.
