Andrew Salgado

Andrew Salgado's portraits leave you wanting more. Gritty, and with a palpable energy, his paintings are, for me, exactly why people should paint portraits in the first place. It shouldn't just be a visual representation of a person but a re-imagination of their vibrance and energy. His random brush strokes are almost pointillist in nature, and seem to just so happen be in the right place at the right time. I'm not even a fan of pointillism. I'm not going to keep pretending like I know anything about art in the slightest. Below, Salgado explains the foundation behind his art:

Since 2008 my artistic pursuit has been to deal with concepts concerning masculinity, sexuality and identity. Prior to that I think my art was a bit more decorative. I see my art as being very political now because I have something that I’m trying to say, even with this project. Every painting that I do has something to say otherwise it’s not worth doing! I’m gay and in 2008 I was the victim of a hate crime, so after that I had a reinvigorated way of looking at my art as a political tool to communicate and get a message across. For a while my art became kind of aggressive, kind of scary and violent, and I think I turned a lot of people onto being a spokesperson for things that I thought were not right. I used my art as a way to speak about things that were quite autobiographical. Fast forward five years later, I see it as a ripple effect; stepping out from talking about myself to talking about bigger issues. In this process of stepping out, and becoming more observing and becoming more external with my own work, It’s become less and less about men in particular and become more about people. - Quote from Harvey Nichols.

Images from Harvey Nichols and Andrew Salgado's Facebook.