A selection of paintings by Salt Lake City-based artist Skyler Simpson. Shifting between familiarity and fantasy, Simpson creates figures and surroundings that “exist on the edge of what is believable.” Her use of unexpected colours and awkward proportions work to create the sense of an internal landscape not quite rooted in the real world. As Simpson further explains her process:

“I collect and collage photographs and often invent a color palette reflecting my emotional state while I paint. Influenced by Northern Renaissance painters and their ability to convey authentic expression through quirky exactness, many of my pieces investigate the psyche that exists behind subtle facial expressions. Delicate shifts in their features suggest feelings of curiosity, anxiety, contentment, or isolation. I glaze oil paint in a manner reminiscent of these artists, building layers to achieve convincing detail. I am interested in creating familiar yet uncomfortable and ambiguous scenes; by making intimate, small-scale pieces, I encourage the viewer to search for a narrative within the details. For me that narrative includes contemporary mythologies as they relate to women. These females are vulnerable, sexual, but not sexualized. In part, the work serves as a counterpoint to women marginalized and objectified throughout art’s history.”

Check out more of Simpson’s work below!