An artist who draws upon art history for his inspiration then gives it his own unique, modern spin speaks my language and immediately draws my interest.  The work of New York artist Jansson Stegner reflects his attraction to the “weird figurations” and exaggerated forms of artists like El Greco, Schiele, and Ingres, yet infuses them with distinctly contemporary style.

Unlike historical portraiture, these aren’t portraits of actual people.  The artist creates a conglomeration of figures in order to arrive at the figure to fit his vision.  Elongated limbs, distorted torsos and amplified eyes give Stansson’s figures a caricature like quality, yet the portraits somehow have more gravitas for it.

If you’d like to see more of Jansson Stegner’s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.