The work:Jeremy Bianco, Alexa, play Come Clean by Hilary Duff, 2022. Oil painting, 40 x 50cm. Courtesy: the artist.
“Painting a portrait is not just making a picture, it’s the celebration of a person,” says Victorian artist Jeremy Bianco, who seeks to capture the complex emotional state of friend and fellow artist Alexis Jade in his work Alexa, play Come Clean by Hilary Duff. Based on self-portraits posted by Alexis Jade on social media, the artist and self-described cinephile has used a monochrome palette to evoke associations with the Golden Age of cinema, as well as the black and white photography of Peter Lindbergh. These visual linkages conjure associations with beauty and glamour, be it the high gloss of Hollywood or the rawer, more soulful approach of the legendary fashion photographer. Indeed, Bianco takes this aesthetic relationship with photography one step further by simulating the effects of double exposure. Instead of portraying a single moment, the work becomes a representation of a flurry of emotion. The title, taken from the caption of the original post, hints at the source of this inner turmoil. The audience is thus privy to Alexis Jade’s internal world and the impact of her failed relationship – her direct eye contact sees her confronting her problems head on, and her head tilted up speaks to a sense of hope, perhaps for a new beginning.