The watchword for the work of R. Matheson is glamour. His recent series of portraits show women in various stages of dishabille, yet they don’t feel exposed. Rather than being lewd, in each painting a woman’s face is emphasized, arranged into an expression that resembles a magazine photo.
In the painting At First Sight, the woman seems to look out of the painting at the viewer. More confident than coy, the painting is a classical portrait set against a single-colored backdrop; this helps to foreground the face and is a staple of Matheson’s working methods.
