A Residency at A Novel Art Department

Skin Contact is the department’s first residency. It’s about staying long enough to notice the small things — moments that sit just before or just after touch.

The works focus on closeness. Bodies mid-gesture. Clothing loosened but not removed. A shirt thrown over a shoulder, a towel wrapped in haste, a waistband sitting low, a look held a fraction longer than intended. These aren’t portraits so much as observations: quiet records of heat, proximity, and shared space.

Skin appears throughout, not as spectacle, but as surface — catching light, holding warmth, carrying attention. Nothing is fully revealed. Cropping does the work. Intimacy shows up without performance.

Some scenes feel overheard, others look straight back. The viewer drifts between witness and participant, aware they’ve entered the room.

The works in this residency originate from found and circulating images — fragments of contemporary life encountered online. Through painting, these moments are slowed, cropped, and re-authored, shifting emphasis from image to contact.