Elizabeth Joy Peyton (born Connecticut, 1965)

Elizabeth Peyton is an American born artist who is known for her painted portraits of famous figures. Growing up in Connecticut, she attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City between 1984 and 1987.

Peyton is recognised for her portraits of public figures, from contemporary artists, musicians and actors, to historical figures. Her work often shows very minimal tone, leaving some information and detail out of the painting. This lack of information is also displayed in her technique of cropping her work once completed, as a way of manipulating and reworking the image. This use of cropping is often beneficial to the overall atmosphere of the painting, for example, cropping a portrait to focus solely on the models face can help add to the intimacy of the work. Peytons way of working is unique in her lack of source material. In an interview with Frieze magazine, she is qouted to have said that painting from an already existing artists work helps her to test “harder-to-reach things inside herself”. Since 1988, Peyton has focused on print work and uses her own hand made paper.

I feel a connection to Elizabeth Peytons portrait work in this project. Due to personal reasons, I have been finding it difficult to spend too long on a painting, and it worried me that my work can perhaps appear underworked or unfinished. Seeing Peytons work has inspired me to use this to my advantage, knowing that using minimal information can add to the painting rather than erasing. The lack of detail through material and/or cropping can help suggest the mood of the painting, as well as make use question or even imagine where the person is, what they are doing etc. Less = more in this case.