January Jones I
Acrylic and emulsion on canvas
21" x 28"
2014
Private collection
Acrylic and emulsion on canvas
21" x 28"
2014
Private collection
This painting is Collins' first portrait of the actress and model, January Jones. He based the work on an ad campaign run by the Italian fashion house, Versace, in which Jones posed nude but for her bag and heels — the essentials. Collins stripped the image down to its own essential elements in his signature restrained palette and high contrast style, thereby accentuating the dramatic chiaroscuro.
This portrait is an early example of Collins' move from acrylic to domestic/ residential paints (here, Farrow & Ball's Pitch Black, full gloss). Collins began experimenting with such paint to explore colour and the dialog between art and architecture. He then found that the liquidity of house paint lent itself to his interest in increasingly detailed and nuanced compositions.
