Boo Ritson

Boo Ritson paints people, but not on canvas or on board – she literally coats people with paint. Presented as photographs, Ritson’s portraits are a double masquerade: her subjects coated in sticky disguise, and the documentary image a surrogate representation of the tangible painterly, sculptural, and performative qualities of work. By using photography Ritson capitalises on the associations of snapshot memory and filmic narrative, with each of her characters playing out readily recognisable stereotypes.

I love this work, it's so instantly recognizable as hers and is so quirky and individual. There's something slightly odd about her work which I like, that little odd twist always makes work more interesting and appealing to me.