Boy with a Pearl Earring

This painting which I completed in January of 2021 is my way of gently pushing back at the idealization of beauty and the objectification of women that scores of male painters have focused on over the millennia, myself included.

“Boy with a Pearl Earring“ counters the external convention of woman as adorned object and replaces it with a boy caught in introspection against a flaming backdrop with ambiguous pillars. A fellow painter encouraged me to tone down the shocking white cloud formations as they might be distracting to the composition, but I’m retaining them anyway in honor of the elemental nature that we we all owe our very existence to. Seeing the work in person is necessary for final judgement on this point.

Apparently no one knows why Vermeer painted a beautiful young woman with an oversized earring, but I want to help the discussion along, abstracting the adornment of thought between the twin forces of material concepts of wealth and the flow of two pronounced elements of nature (here expressed as wind and fire).

Vermeer's girl is a launching point for me, but hardly the sole motivation for this work. It floated into existence separate from any thoughts of Vermeer’s girl but as it gradually took shape over the months, I made a conscious decision to pay homage to his stunning work and incorporated some of his themes in my piece. My boy is caught in a world burning at the edge, grasping for focus, yet still beautiful from within. My view of Vermeer's girl is that she is lovely and objectified like a confection one might consume, rather than a partner of equal social status. However, I recognize that Vermeer’s girl could have been powerful and amazing in her own right and that my view is highly subjective.

Boy is at once looking upwards toward the horizon, while also looking inward at his own humanity and place in the world. The chain that connects the boy’s ear to his earring is sharp and straight. I used a special mixture of paint and glitter to achieve a sparkling effect. This is a feature that one would notice in person but which is only barely captured through digital photography.

I’m constantly torn between the desire to render recognizable shapes and images, and a root inspiration to let the brush and my imagination go where it wants to. I know this is challenge for those who look at my work and try to make sense of it, but I embrace these counter impulses and believe that they lie at the core of my expression as a painter.