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He who works with his hands is a laborer...
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman...
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.
—St. Francis of Assisi
ABOUT
Mark Montana creates museum-quality commissioned portraits in oil and graphite, combining technical mastery with emotional depth. Grounded in traditions of academic draftsmanship and Old Master painting techniques, his work feels at once contemporary and timeless. Through hundreds of hours with unwavering focus, each portrait is intended to endure as a treasured heirloom or legacy piece.
Beyond mere likeness, his portraits explore a subject’s rich internal world through subtle yet masterful use of symbolism, lighting, color, and composition. Every element is considered for how it advances the narrative, whether a book on a shelf, or the nuance of a microexpression to reveal the identity of the sitter. The extraordinary level of detail and finish characteristic of his work invites viewers to pause and engage with a fully realized representation of someone that is unflinchingly honest yet deeply empathetic.
Perfection is no small thing, but it is made up of small things.
I paint flowers so they will not die
—Frida Kahlo
Drawing contains everything found in painting except color
—(adapted) Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
ARTIST STATEMENT
In an age awash with fleeting photographic images and AI-generated content, the hand-created portrait feels like a defiant act of resistance. It demands attention, first from the artist and later from the viewer. It holds space and offers a sense of permanence, as the subject flirts with immortality, quietly alive within the simulated reality orchestrated by the artist.
My work blends the exactitude of Contemporary Hyperrealism with the somewhat idealized sensibility of Classical Realism and Romanticism. Whether working in oil or graphite, each piece reflects my unrelenting commitment to truth, beauty, and craftsmanship.
While achieving a “perfect likeness” is certainly a goal, it is but one among many. I begin each portrait by capturing hundreds of reference photographs, which I then study until I've achieved a sculptor’s grasp of volume, proportion, and spatial presence. Through this rigorous process of observation, an imperceptible yet numinous shift occurs, when I am no longer looking at someone but finally seeing them.
I am then called to translate my observations and insights into the language of graphite and oil paint, so that the viewer might share that unmistakable moment of recognition and connection, with both the sitter and with themselves, making each portrait as much meditation as representation.
For a more personal account of my working methods and aesthetic ethos, please see my essay,
A picture is nothing but a bridge between the soul of the artist and that of the spectator
—Eugene Delacroix
Look for Mark Montana Art on Facebook, Patreon, Instagram, and YouTube
Beauty perishes in life, but is immortal in art
—Leonardo da Vinci
