not going anywhere (unfinished detail)
not going anywhere (unfinished detail)
j. nyla ink mcneill
2024
Acrylic and UV-reactive acrylic, newsprint on canvas
18 × 14 in.
Courtesy of artist: Originally published on patreon.com/c/inkmcneill. Full images of complete work on Patreon only.
This piece came from the first time I had ever sit to learn to paint a self-portrait.
I often refer to it as the “eviction notice painting,” as it followed a series of notices addressed to housemates and myself from a rent company that was once illegally intimidating its tenants. This painting was a way to cope with the process of holding the company accountable to its actions. With the ending of this painting, the rent company quit.
This work reframed painting as a practice of endurance and care rather than one of tragedy, as I’ve always been uncomfortable with the “suffering artist” narrative.
Created over approximately 20 hours at home and in a neighboring communal healing environment, the work is both process and record of collective witnessing. It holds painting as ritual. As someone who did not consider themself a painter beforehand, a great deal of learning happened toward completing it.
The above detail is the original piece at about 70% completion, missing its left eye and an additional layer of smoothing and shading that came with further study.
In addition to its daylight state, the painting also includes UV-activated paint, calling back to the themes of psychedelic integration and spirituality (explored in the image “Enduring the Psychical”, taken in the same house).
