USA –
Colourful, quirky, antiquated and yet modern is what comes to mind when you see model-turned-artist Shae Acopian Detar’s work. The artist who divides time between New York City and Los Angeles, creates images using age-old technique of hand painting her photographs. Her handiwork lends the paintings a dreamy, transcendental quality.
Neon pinks, yellows and greens are some of the defining colours in Detar’s images. The play with contrast creates a wonderland in which female models look like otherworldly goddesses. The choice of theatrical wardrobes, or lack thereof, reflect Detar’s acquired taste as a model. She transforms clear blue skies, lake waters, and mountains into reveries.
Detar’s fine art photography took off when she first started taking self-portraits. In one such experiment, she “heavily” painted herself with “lace shadows” on her face, tinted her body blue and painted yellow flowers all over. Detar has often defined her work as a “pre-Raphaelite dream” (the 19th century artistic movement that revived interest in the classic and Renaissance art forms).
In one of her interviews, the artist said, “I suppose I am creating a world I wish I lived in, I am trying to create a moment that is far more enticing that the one directly in front of me.”
Art & Culture Feature- Written by Manmeet Sahni
