Saatchi Art’s Chief Curator has picked ‘Becoming Pierrot’ by OAS Member Jenny Fay to be featured this week. The world’s leading online art gallery, Saatchi Art boasts 1.4 millions artworks of which just 100 were selected.
The painting is a portrait of award-winning opera singer Claire Booth whose album ‘Pierrot Lunaire’ provided the inspiration for the pose.
Jenny found collaborating with Claire on this project incredibly fun. Together they came up with the Pierrot costume, with Claire sourcing the black cap and red lipstick whilst Jenny made the ruff from a net curtain to get exactly the right gauzy material.
As an opera singer Claire is trained in using not only her voice but also her face expressively, which made for the creation of an unusual and dynamic portrait. The pair tried out a series of different poses in the studio with Jenny choosing this one as it gave a real sense of Claire peering into a mirror as she applied her make up. The result is a striking close up view of the transformation into Pierrot.