FACE-TO-FACE COLLABORATIVE PORTRAITS

BY CHUCK ALEXANDER & MELISSA AUBERTY

This collaborative adventure began several years ago as a notion springing from a series of smaller works done by the artists. Using large Coventry rag paper primed with gesso, Auberty and Alexander first sketched in charcoal from a photograph found online - old Hollywood head shots or candid street photos - then let the image fall away and the expressionistic play bagin. Working in oils, the artists stepped in and out of the portraits, falling into a rhythm that was both creatively simulating and cathartic. Collaborative art frees the otherwise singular experience that is the usual artist's universe and opens up new visual worlds that are unforeseen. It is the ultimate master class in letting go.