Page Turning Quiet: the bloom I keep coming back to
A woman reading on a stoop, the colour lifting off her into air—this is the fourth time I have painted this exact angle and I still do not know her name.
Naomi Brooks
Based in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Works in a style called Unflinching Figuration: confident figurative drawing, rich deep skin tones, bold flat colour grounds, the likeness withheld - cropped, turned or shadowed, poster-art graphic clarity.
Wind Pulling Everything East: when the hair tells the story
The Staten Island ferry crossing became the portrait when I let the braids move.
Spin Toward Magenta: When the Turn Leaves Color Behind
The dancer spins and the colour stays in the air where her body was.
Glow Before Closing: Why I Kept the Bodega Light Cold
The fridge glow does all the work if you let it sit there like weather.
Becoming One Colour: the space between two people, painted
Two profiles under the bridge arch, the air between them turning into colour.
Rush Hour Reverie: The Gap Between Likeness and Bloom
A subway profile held tight while the hair and air around her open into bloom.