These expressive and passionate paintings by artist Franoise Nielly have a discernible intensity that emanate from each composition. Having mastered palette knife painting techniques, the artist uses thick strokes of oil on canvas to blend a certain abstraction into these figurative portraits. The paintings, which are based off of simple black and white photographs, feature extreme light, shadow, depth, and energetic neon colors. According to her bio on Behance, Nielly “takes a risk: her painting is sexual, her colors free, exuberant, surprising, even explosive, the cut of her knife incisive, her color pallete dazzling.”
In all of her portraits ranging from the past to the present, blends of bold colors streak across the canvas to create a lively and erotic energy, as faces emerge from her stark, solid backgrounds. Nielly’s subjects often have a burning gaze and facial expressions that suggest strong and salacious desires. The powerful, fixed stare of her subjects is captivating and viewers can’t help but wonder if there are hidden intentions behind the eyes of these compelling figures.
