A good portrait is a small miracle.  Like Pygmalion, it achieves a life of its own.  It is a given that nothing is more risky or difficult than attempting a likeness of the human face – object of our deepest scrutiny and severest criticism.

I attempt to capture the core of the person, in the moment.  This requires whatever psychological insight I may have as well as the requisite technical skills to bring it off.  At best, the subject is revealed as it is in no other way, through the veil of understanding, and the human hand of another person.  In a sense, it’s always a double portrait.  It goes both ways.  Also, the artist must please the sitter.  That is, not so much flatter but capture the inner face the sitter recognizes, which may or may not bear any resemblance to the actual facts, the face in the mirror.

Some of the many great examples are Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Rembrandt’s self-portrait at Kenwood House, Andy Warhol in Pittsburgh.  I believe in the historic importance and continuity of art.  In the past, the portrait marked a rite of passage.  Now, it may simply stop a moment in time.  Freeze-frame.  Portraiture has been with us since the beginning.  It cannot be replaced, nor is it in competition with any other contemporary art form.  A good portrait will reveal us, and our particular era.