Oil portraits: the beauty of unfinished art by Talya Johnson

My thesis project for my Bachelor of Fine Art in Drawing and Painting was supposed to be about community abandonment. Painting portraits of my cohort, art and craft community from life, was supposed to commemorate our struggle together after our art school, Oregon College of Art and Craft closed its doors. But my project about abandonment ended up being abandoned due to Covid 19 pandemic. Many important people from my community didn’t get a chance to have their portrait painted. Dozens of portraits didn’t get the last 30 minutes of finishing touches they were allotted. As I sit here looking at the installed but unfinished oil portraits I am struck by the inherent imperfection of the two to three hour time restraint I put on myself to paint each person. There is strange beauty to unfinished art. 

Lydia Figes expounds on why “non-finito” (meaning unfinished) became and remains an alluring practice of many artists in her article for UK Art. “Arguably, an unfinished or incomplete work holds a unique kind of beauty, one which can feel more painterly or raw, even authentic.” Read more about the history and appeal of unfinished artwork here. 

If you are curious about my research and process for this portrait painting project you can read part of my thesis here.
All the portrait paintings are also viewable on my website under Original Artwork > Community Remains.