Q&A With Jordan Casteel

JC: Portrait painting is an opportunity for me to slow down and really investigate and engage with the person and their environment. I can get out of my head and my assumptions about who I’m painting and really get into the nuance of what makes that person who they are. It could be the subtlety of the way they hold their hands, or it could be the environment that I capture them in. It’s different than just taking a photograph.

JC: My process begins with a tool called Color-aids, which are basically expensive paint chips. I use them to determine the colors in a painting. I throw hundreds of them on the floor, and I just begin to play. I pick up one color that captures the energy of the person I’m getting ready to paint. That first color goes on the background as a wash. It becomes a source of light for the painting. Once I’ve made that initial decision, I begin to pick out the rest of the colors. I put the Color-aids on the wall next to the canvas I’m working on, using them as a guide. It all comes together much more easily when I’ve prepared myself for the moments when real freedom can exist—when I’m actually painting.

JC: It is the only circumstance in my practice where the gaze is not direct, because I am not directly engaging with them. I use my cell phone to capture a moment when someone has captured my attention. It’s about seeing and being seen. The engagement is just different than in my big portraits, where they’re all people I know and have asked to participate in the process. [In the subway paintings,] I’m interested in color, composition, and the subtlety of how people carry themselves.

JS: Always apply for everything. Even a rejection brings you one step closer to your goal. The number of times that I thought I wasn’t good enough and didn’t throw my hat in the ring for opportunities is something that I deeply regret. The times that changed my life or got me closer to my dreams have been when I took a leap of faith and had to trust that either something would rise up to meet me or that I would learn to fly.