* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Michelle Osman received a BFA in painting and art history from Montana State University. in 2005.
The ideas from her paintings come from memes, in the Dawkinsian sense. She works from research photos and compositional sketches, by applying thin layers of translucent oil paint onto canvas in ‘wipes and dabs’ until a vivid color scape emerges.
Her human figures are intended to develop stories, emotions and realities. Osman aims to draw attention to a personal relationship with the external world. ‘The human form must refer to something over and beyond its manifest subject,’ she says.
Her work has been exhibited locally and in group shows across the United States.