Upon first meeting the visual artist Josh Paige, I saw him as this amiable young guy always in good spirits. When he showed me his artwork, specifically his abstract-inspired portraits of Azealia Banks and Nicki Minaj and acrylic flower painting, I saw a kindred pop artist. I was surprised to learn that his favorite artist is El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos, one of the pioneers of Expressionism. However, the correlation between Paige and El Greco is not far-fetched. Like Theotokópoulos, Paige possesses great technical skill at a very young age, creating portraits of the famous people he likes as I assume Theotokópoulos did in his early stages painting elongated portraits of well-known aristocrats and public figures.
As I became more familiar with Paige’s work via his tumblr, I witnessed a more comprehensive body of work encompassing conceptual self-portraits exemplifying his skillful mastery of color, composition, and texture. Paige is indeed a modern virtuoso just as El Greco was in his time. I look forward to the inevitable growth of his skill as his body of work increases in number. Today, I coin him “El Negre” in accordance with his idol. Is that racist? Nah…it’s Catalan.
- KEEBS
