Cindy Wright

Cindy Wright is a Belgian painter born in 1972. She has a Masters in Visual Arts from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Her artwork has been displayed all over the United States and Antwerp, where she currently lives.

Wright’s works are photorealistic paintings, much of it being close ups of animal and human flesh. She makes and photographs these compositions herself. The paintings can be considered modern day vanitas paintings. They force the viewer to observe miniscule details, like each individual crease in the skin, that are normally a blur in everyday life. The objects are isolated, which is an influence from early still life paintings. Her paintings are created at such large scales that in order to understand what is happening in the painting, the viewer must step back. Once the viewer steps close to the piece, it becomes more abstract in that we can only see tiny details and abstract shapes.

Her paintings are realistic with the use of trompe l’oeil but the subject matter is grotesque. I love how they are able to evoke such feelings because it means she achieved a reaction from her viewers. Her style is very inspiring because it lingers between being realistic and being abstract.