Original Oil Painting of Marlon Brando by Christina Major

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Quotes within painting:
"All I want to be is normally insane. Never surrender to the momentum of mediocrity.
Only the … Read more Quotes within painting:
"All I want to be is normally insane. Never surrender to the momentum of mediocrity.
Only the one who walks his own way
can’t be over taken. I watched a snail
crawl along the edge of a razor.
That’s my dream. That’s my nightmare.
Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a
straight razor and surviving. If we are
not our brother's keeper, at least let us
not be his executioner. Too much success
can ruin you as surely as too much failure.
The pursuit of the material has become
our reason for living, not enjoyment of
living itself. In being a loving son, I suppose
I was trying to become a loved son. I realize
that to forgive with your mind is not always
to forgive in your heart. I don’t think I was constructed to be monogamous. I don’t think it’s the nature of any man to be monogamous. Men are propelled by genetically ordained impulses over which they have no control to distribute their seed into as many females as possible.
I value each woman for what she has to offer whether it be charm-beauty-wit-intelligence or humor but warmth is the quality I value most.”

As an undergraduate Christina Major developed into a portrait painter. Major has been interested in the ways the identity of both artist and subject can coexist in a portrait. Major also has a desire to combine portrait painting with writing (inspired from her Graphic Design studies) as well as to develop methods of using paint to express a merging of herself with the individual depicted in the portrait. Her creative research focuses on the traditional form of the portrait as a powerful form of representing an individual and how meaning can be expanded through scale, brushstroke, color, texture, composition and the many variables that portraiture deals with.

Major looks to expand on the traditional portrait painting by cataloguing her memories and thoughts along with the thoughts of the subject by painting under, into and over the subject in her handwriting. Majors “hand” is visible both in the brushstroke and in the cursive writing, preserving her identity in a “readable” way both literally and through graphology, or handwriting analysis.

The paintings are done primarily in oil on canvas grounds prepared with gesso and stretched. They are generally of monumental size ranging from 48” to 96” in each dimension. Major wants the portraits to feel overwhelming and have a “larger-than-life” presence that cannot be ignored. The large scale also supports her in creating a different “reading” of the painting depending on the viewing distance. Areas read quite abstractly when viewed up close and the emphasis appears to be brush stroke, dabs of color with energy and texture that is related to the form of the cursive text. From a further viewing point, the image coalesces from the fragmented strokes and layers of writing drawing focus to the likeness of the subject painted. See less