A self-portrait
Made: Philadelphia P.a, U.s.a. 2018
Title: She’s Not Just a Pretty Face
Artist: Araine T-Jay
Date: 2019
Location: Vatican, Rome
Medium: Pigment, oil painting, and oil medium on plastic, hand-made frame.
Description: This painting of my mother was made in Rome, just before her birthday but was not simply made as a birthday present. No. This piece was made on a prompt of “changes in time.” It was a very open prompt and I decided to make a painting about ancient Rome, current Rome, and a future moment. The style and composition of this painting speak to the style of times during Rome, in ancient times. The sky and Cypress trees were drawn from my view from my studio in Rome. In addition, this painting was made using a volcanic rock that I found in the Enchanted Forest of Tuscany, Italy. In WW2, the villagers of this town small took shelter in this forest, which used to be home to an active volcano, and though many bombs were dropped there, no one died, hence the given name. By using this rock (possibly shot out from that volcano hundreds of years ago), I have made this painting truly, a relic of time.
Title: The Resourceful One
Artist: Araine T-Jay
Date: Aug. - Dec. 2019
Location: Vatican, Rome
Medium: Acrylic paint, Charcoal, Oil paint, Gold powder, hand-made frame.
Description: This piece is meant to say this, he or she who is resourceful, he or she that uses what they have at their disposal, will reach their highest heights.
The figure in this painting is a self-portrait but it represents
Title: The Gifts of Pyrim
Artist: Araine T-Jay
Date: Sep. 2017 - Feb. 2020
Location: Philadelphia, P.A.
Medium: Acrylic paint, Charcoal, Oil paint, Gold powder, hand-made frame.
Description: This painting was done over the course of the three years that it took me to finish college and acquire my BFA. It was one of my many side projects and began because I always intended to use it in my thesis show. It contains an imaginative description of a self-portrait, three celestial bodies, three gifts, and a small façade. In it, I am receiving these gifts from these beings, and surrounding the façade are clouds glowing in essence. This wall look-a-like was made with gesso, pieces of wood, and wall-putty, to create a seemingly smooth transition from painting to "wall" to give a "removed and framed, fresco effect." Initially, I was going to leave that part of the painting empty until I had a family of my own - to paint them as my fourth gift. However, after living in Rome, Italy, I knew that I wanted the painting to look like a fresco, removed from its found place and framed, to give a timeless feel. I also knew that I wanted the corner to represent the soul because, while in Rome, doing my study abroad program with Temple University, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, I lived among and ventured within structures and wonders made thousands of years before every other nation and the name of the artists adorned then, still living on today. This and other factors had me in deep thought many times and deepen my interest in the human soul - what it is, how it looks - and time. So much so that this painting altered my thesis show, that my thesis paper was titled, What is Greatness? A paper that, in short, questions why a name can live forever.
Title: Even Satan Gets Blessed
Artist: Araine T-Jay
Date: June - Aug 2021
Location: Philadelphia, P.A.
Medium: Acrylic paint, Charcoal, Oil paint, on store-bought canvas.
Description: Tony wanted a Renaissance-style painting for his barbershop that showed Jesus giving Satan a haircut to depict how valuable a proper haircut can b so valuable, that it can squash the biggest of quarrels. A haircut is a man’s cosmetic. It’s a statement. This concept was extremely original and, I believe that this painting conveyed the patron’s thoughts.
Title: Space Donut
Artist: Araine T-Jay
Date: 2018
Location: Philadelphia, P.A.
Medium: Acrylic paint, Charcoal, Oil paint.
Description: This Space Donut was a project assignment from college. This piece was eventually sold to a close friend from Trinidad.
