Iden FosterPainterHe/him. 24 years old. Graduated SUNY Potsdam in May 2018.
My art style weaves both ornate and horrific elements together. I like to try to produce a balance between elegance and filth, or things that are pleasing to the eye and things we as people would rather not think of, in my imagery and material use. On the side of elegance I take influence from Victorian and French Rococo influences.I try to make my portraits emulate the same stiff and standoffish feeling as figures in portraiture in the 1800s; a sense of pride and disdain at the same time. On the side of filth I use images of blood and offal, human waste, and depictions of gender expression intended to cause discomfort in people who don’t have experiences with unconventional gender presentation. I want to create an aura of romanticism for taboo subjects. My main medium is oil paint, but I also enjoy working with fabric and embroidery and other mixed media. I like to play with my technique. I find it hard to accomplish a piece without some sort of experimentation, whether with my application of paint or my materials. I’ve made and painted on fabric dolls. A lot of my work features recycled materials and canvases, so I’ve worked on a variety of surfaces from paper and canvas to glass, cardboard, and plywood. I tend to be thrifty with what I throw away, so if I look twice at something I would otherwise consider garbage and I think I can make it into something, I try to spare it. I think the most important thing about my artistic identity is that I want to make art that people want to talk. Whether it involves something they’re afraid of, or a theme they can connect to their own gender or emotional dysphoria. My art and imagery can be shocking, but I intend more for people to see my work as beautifying concepts that can be taboo, scary, or depressing. Art to me is about expressing truth and feelings. I want my art to make people think about how they react to things. [email protected] |