Artist Profile Vanessa Falgoust

Falgoust’s affecting oil portrait is richly idiosyncratic, capturing a profound familial intimacy beyond resemblance.

Artist Statement

Artwork capturing a likeness exists in most cultures. The artist’s intentions, however, are exceedingly divergent.

Likenesses were introduced into the Western world when Greeks created busts from marble to create the likeness to idealize the person’s appearance, reflecting the aesthetics and philosophy of the time. The Romans imitated the Greeks. Mosaics that adorned palaces often included likenesses of important people.

With fall of Rome, idealism seemed lost in the western world. But during the period of the great migrations, fragments of artwork adorned with likeness were discovered. In the Middle Ages, likenesses were stylized but became increasingly sophisticated. Europeans slowly reacquainted themselves with the natural world and how to depict it.

Portraiture soon became a specialized form of painting. Many patrons wanted to be idealized and flattered. Royalty commissioned themselves in dramas. Nevertheless, artists found ways to peer into the face and reveal more than a likeness – what is the person thinking or feeling, what story is behind a wrinkle or gaze. The greatest of the Old Masters were able to subtly reveal a person behind the aggrandized sitter.

I find Rembrandt van Rijn among the most skilled portrait painters among the Old Masters. His brushstrokes, even the finest, along with his use of light, bring the viewer beyond the surface. Vincent Van Gogh also displays exceeding sensitivity with his use of composition and brushstrokes to introduce the viewer to the person he is painting.

It was many years ago when my brother sat for me for this painting. He had injured his leg and was forced to sit with his leg raised up. Each day he limped to the lounge chair wrapped in a sheet and sat down to watch TV at our parents’ house. Greg and I were close. I watched him limp down the hallway which reminded me of much of his life. Poignantly, there was a slice of watermelon on the table behind him with two bowls of fruit. I decided to include them.

I am intrigued by portraiture and the opportunity to encounter another person and visually depict what I experience.

Artist Biography

Painting is magic and allows me to realize visually the subjective realm of memories and memories of memories where meaning, purpose, identity and self are forged. My recent experience as a hospice chaplain prompted this exploration of the realm of memories in my artwork. The more personal an artwork, the more universal.

I have served in overseas ministry, as a pastor, a healthcare and most recently a hospice chaplain. But my father was an artist and art professor whose spiritual journey was rich and profound. He encouraged my artistic talent and showed me early on that metaphor and the arts are best for addressing questions of meaning and purpose.

After returning from overseas ministry, Dad encouraged me to pursue a M.F.A. Prior I earned a B.A. in religion from Texas Christian University and an M.Div. from Yale University and studied figure drawing and traditional painting techniques at the Art Students’ League of New York and The Saint-Gilles Art Academy in Belgium. I earned my M.F.A. at the San Francisco Art Institute. Since my first classes at the Art Students’ League forty-five years ago, I have been compelled to draw and paint. My work has been exhibited and sold.

Major influences are Søren Kierkegaard, Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent Van Gogh (who also studied theology for ministry).

My father’s family was Francophone, so I entitle certain works from memories specifically in Louisiana in French.