Artist Thirty-Nine: Stephanie Deshpande

Why this Artist?
    I found Stephanie Deshpande one day while playing around on the internet and was intrigued with how dark some of her paintings were and how nicely she created light within them.  I was also intrigued by the fact that she painted mostly female characters (her daughter) and the way she created light on skin tones.

Paintings that I particularly enjoy are: 

Exploring the Basement by Stephanie Deshpande

Girl Holding Wolf by Stephanie Deshpande

Sleeping Child by Stephanie Deshpande

Who is this Artist?
      Deshpande is an artist living around New York and considers herself a contemporary, figurative painter.  She graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a BFA in paintings and went on to the New York Academy of Art for her MFA.  Deshpande's work has been in galleries all over New York City and other places in the United States and she has been in both group and solo exhibitions.  One exhibition that I particularly found interesting that this artist was in was "Women Painting Women" a New Jersey exhibition.  This artist has won many awards for her work and also been in many publications.  She is becoming a well known female artist that paints female subjects and I think I will be following her work a lot closer from now on. 

What does she do? 
    The artist creates paintings that, according to her website, "combine her love for realism with personal allegories" and "evoke mystery, and have been described as having a "something-going-on quality to them."  She also loves to paint psychological portrayals of her daughter.  By looking at Deshpande's work it is clear that she loves to play with light and is very good at it.  She creates very dark areas in her images and then contrast them with accurately placed highlights.  Her realistic female characters really do make the viewer question what is going on in the images and are painted using realistic colors. 

Why she inspires me?
    Deshpande's work is inspirational to me because she paints real women in real situations and not just grown women, children as well.  The way she plays with lighting is also something that I admire and that gives her works a overlaying style.  As I will be portraying women in my own style for my project, this artist's works are an example to me and there is much to be learned by reading about her and viewing her pieces. 

I have attached Deshpande's website if you would like to view more of her paintings: http://www.stephaniedeshpande.com/

Portrait of Veronica by Stephanie Deshpande

The Dream by Stephanie Deshpande

Waiting by Stephanie Deshpande