We have come to spare ourselves too much of life’s natural awkwardness. When is the last time you sat a few seconds longer inside an awkward moment, especially one shared with a stranger? You should try it. It’s fascinating! There is such vulnerability in a way of being which is totally unrehearsed. To witness something like that—in oneself or another—is precious.
Painter Matt Doust is brilliant when it comes to being able to capture a moment in time of someone’s soul like this. For that period during which his model is being painted, he/she belongs to Doust. Even his portrayal of a subject’s collarbone is exquisite; there is a reverence in it. The reverence (on the part of Doust toward his subjects) is borne of an attempt to mirror rather than to perfect. He seeks not to mold his subject, but rather to recreate him/her.
