Oil painting portraits have been strewn about in galleries for centuries, faces and features littering walls all over the world. San Francisco-based painter Emilio Villalba takes this simple idea and doubles it, sometimes triples it.
Faces are layered atop one another in Villalba’s works. His paintings are reminiscent of the classic photoshop error where faces are dragged until they are duplicated countless times, though these works bring beauty to a usually unsightly mistake.
Seeing more of one face can be overwhelming, but Villalba’s works are fluid and natural. Faces of pain reflect pain — multiple times. Stern looks cannot be mistaken. The characters Villalbal creates are definite and bold, bringing something fresh to the classic portrait.
