…with Jeremy Mann. Or rather, his work. His talent totally overwhelms me, I’ve always wished I could paint with oil like he does but I simply don’t have the skill. I think he’s known mainly for his cityscapes and for these compositions but actually I’m in love with his portraits.
I find them totally spellbinding. I sense that his subjects may harbour some dark secrets, and he’s acknowledged this by hiding a strange sort of macabre undertone under layers of “traditional” oil marks.
The portraits are simultaneously unnerving and comforting. It’s easy to feel like a voyeur, seeing these young girls undressing and exposed, but then they also seem totally comfortable with being painting, with their bodies, with the artist.
Perhaps their haunted expressions are in response to the secrets that they bury inside themselves, that Mann buries inside the paint. I don’t know.
I just know that they’re beautiful. I want to buy these two pieces but I don’t think I can, and I’m pissed that Mann’s not coming to London anytime soon. And really, I want to know the story of the girls in the portraits.
This piece is called ‘Menagerie.‘
And this one is ‘Requiem.‘
Click here to see more work by Jeremy Mann.
poetry & prose by HLR 
Oh wow, that is stunning! The atmosphere, the subject, the strokes themselves, everything.