The world has come to a standstill. In the wake of COVID-19, people find themselves spending more time with themselves than they ever have before. It is a prime opportunity for the creation of art.
Enter Abigail Albano-Payton, a 21-year-old artist from Laguna Beach via Dallas who has dedicated her quarantine to researching new ways to hone her artistic craft. She has dedicated herself, specifically, to learning how to paint black, indigenous and people of color; a methodology that she feels has largely been excluded from her art education at Laguna College of Art and Design. What has resulted from this research is a series of engrossing portraits.
Albano’s artwork is bathed in familiarity and emotion. Using oil paint as her medium of choice, her visible brushwork exudes decadence and attention to detail. She is a painter who studies her subject with great care. This is evident in the way she captures her subjects’ energy by examining all the idiosyncrasies of their expressions with her textured style of painting.
In one of her recent quarantine paintings titled Isaiah, Albano endeavored to paint someone whom she felt represented the larger idea behind her research. That is, to show the importance and beauty of black lives.
“I wanted to shed light on an individual, specifically a young black man, whose life is valuable,” she said. “Even though I may not know him one hundred percent, I believe he has so much worth in this world, and especially with the current social climate of this country. Black lives matter, period.”
The person in the painting is a young content creator whose work Albano has always admired. His portrait is set against a wine-red background, a color which also dances off the beautiful hues of his skin. His expression is calm and unreserved, hinting to the viewer that he carries much dignity and self-assurance.
In this painting, Albano challenged herself to learn the process behind painting a black man, something she had never done before. The painting then became a symbol of her artistic progress as well as her activist beliefs.
Another recent painting Albano created as part of her ongoing research was a portrait of her friend, Vicky. Though this painting was based off of a still image, it retains its character and depth as if it were done live. The artist’s emphasis on eyes (a detail that is also present in Isaiah) magnetizes viewers into contemplating another painting of a strong-willed person of color.
Albano’s quarantine research and subsequent paintings reshape the narrative behind art of black people. They are a testament to the impact that art has on social movements and the way in which their messages abet change.
In addition to studying other people, Albano has also studied herself through the experiences that she has had with loneliness and isolationism. Self-Portrait at 20 (2019) is one such example.
This charcoal drawing is rife with emotion. The dim wash over the neutral colors in the background melts into the evergreen color of the artist’s kimono and plant life. Albano relies on the visual cues of color to replicate her state of mind. In doing so, she invites viewers to have a frank conversation about body image.
“It was definitely a difficult journey for me because I have negative views of my own body. I have body dysmorphia, and so I wanted to do something in a creative way that would help me fully look at myself,” she said.
Being a person of mixed race, Albano said that she has always struggled with acceptance of her own image. She uses art as a way to express the impact that this has had on her life.
“[Black Lives Matter] has affected my art. Personally, for me, I’m devastated by everything that’s going on in this country. Art’s always been the thing that keeps me on the ground,” she said. “Art has been therapeutic for me during this whole process.”
Though not all of her paintings are for a bigger purpose, such as Self-Portrait at 20, Albano’s artwork is the definition of a visual poem. She sets herself apart from her contemporaries by wholly examining the humanism behind each person she paints, including herself.
Albano’s intrinsic curiosity and innate drive to learn about the art of painting people of color sets into motion a fresh perspective that is much needed in art history. Despite the constraints of quarantine, she has found ways to create art that will continue to spark conversations in a world that is currently quiet.
