Niall
Lynam

The Non-Existent: Portraiture in the Digital Age

Niall Lynam’s painting practice focuses on the deconstruction of the portrait genre. They are virtual portraits, faces of non-existent persons. Hoping that in erasing individuality it will concurrently erase any prejudice and preconceived bias towards the subject/portrait. He works directly against the most commonly valued aspect of the genre; (must a portrait only represent an existing face?) in order to provoke a sociological analysis of what portraiture truly is.

The portraits resemble that of a passport photo. They are totally neutralized portraits, with their uniform structure and plain, premeditated approach. The sitters are psychically present but reveal no further information about themselves. This is a more democratic, socially based mode of representation; merely examples of a type of portraiture.