“Excessive Portraits” is a resplendent series of photographs captured by Ryan Burke, which are then digitally rendered by Matteo Mauro. The painting series imparts a piquant narrative about the notion of beauty, specifically within portraiture. Having a personal understanding of the concept of a portrait and their implications is foundational to grasping this series.
Matteo aims to explore what a portrait entails, whether it is simply a template for social mimicry through palpable expression or if it is something deeper… like a mode for culminating sentiments into a manifestation that may be formless. These images are intended to be viewed side by side. The first image is the original – excessive beauty in the raw.
Figures are extravagantly ornamented with visual makeup and props, radiating a rococo essence. Burke adorns the subjects in a way that surpasses any familiar or comfortable paradigm of style. With these photos, Mauro digitally evolves the classical portrait into one that is still, devoutly, a portrait at heart.
Using computerised painting method, he seems to transcend the photo’s cote into another dimension-one that is ressemblant of a queer dream yet preserves a vague familiarity. By comparing the two photos, one could observe the distinct quintessence of beauty that possessed the original photos still remain but conveyed in a more unconventional manner.
Ultimately, “Excessive Portraits” challenges the traditional framework of a portrait and brings about emancipation for the expression of beauty. The “excessiveness” of the original photo is digitally amalgamated into a format that creates a depth, with layers of detail hidden yet revealed when reflecting back on the original image.
It is a visionary opus to contemplate such sublime realization of an authentic concept. Matteo Mauro and Ryan Burke curate an exceptionally sensational series that defy classic thought on portraiture and standards of beauty.
All images, courtesy of artists Matteo Mauro and Ryan Burke
