French painter Nielly Francoise is well-known for her portraits, and for good reason. Her style is a little bit cubist, a little bit modern, and whole lot of intimate. She manages to communicate so much through her palette knife that you feel like you know her subjects. I think it’s her portraits’ eyes and lips that most intrigue me. There is something so loaded, so deep and deeply expressive about them, I think I’d recognize her subjects in the street. And her fascinating use of neon-bright colors essentially throws the idea of skin color right out the window.

Her work feels influenced by street and pop art, by Basquiat and Warhol, by Paul Wright, and by David Walker. I really enjoyed looking at her works, and I hope you do, too!

All images property of Nielly Francoise.

(Via)