![\"painting](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/adv\/alumni-news-media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/the-girl-next-door.jpg\")
ART MAJOR: Welch, the subject of one of seven paintings in Sherald\u2019s highly regarded 2019 exhibition, says the artist\u2019s work captures the experience of African Americans in ways that are rare in major art shows. AMY SHERALD, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, 2019; OIL ON CANVAS (137.2 X 109.2 X 6.4 CM 54 X 43 X 2 1\/2 INCHES) \u00a9 AMY SHERALD; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND HAUSER & WIRTH<\/p><\/div>\n
Just two years after unveiling her portrait of Obama\u2014a work that\u2019s now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC,\u2014Sherald mounted a solo exhibition last fall at Hauser & Wirth, an influential New York City gallery. Titled At the Heart of the Matter . . . , <\/em>the suite of paintings featured portraits of African Americans.<\/p>\n One of the paintings was of Welch, who says the paintings are particularly moving because they beautifully and simply capture ordinary aspects of daily life for African Americans and the black community. That experience, she says, isn\u2019t often represented in major art exhibitions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I walked in, I saw the painting immediately. It took my breath away,\u201d Welch says. \u201cAmy highlighted the equally important parts of me, and she gave meaning to the small things in the painting, like the lipstick, my hand in my pocket, and the polka dots on the dress.\u201d<\/p>\n Opening last fall, the exhibition was acclaimed for showcasing Sherald\u2019s \u201csmoldering yet self-contained brand of portraiture,\u201d as a review in the New York Times <\/em>described the exhibition.<\/p>\n Capturing her subjects\u2019 faces in a gray monochrome\u2014a grisaille that the artist has made her signature\u2014Sherald places her subjects in bold settings and vibrant backdrops, resulting in paintings of confident people who \u201cinvite close, exclusive looking, a kind of communion.\u201d<\/p>\n Several reviewers cited the exhibition as one of the most important of 2019. For Welch, an anthropology major at Rochester and now a child advocacy lawyer in Washington, DC, it was an unexpected honor to be painted by Sherald.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”] The artist turned out to be Sherald, and in January 2019, Welch heard from the artist\u2019s studio manager, who said Sherald wanted to paint Welch\u2019s portrait. To fill in more of the back story: the manager later said Sherald had never used an open call to recruit models before. She didn\u2019t like the process and doesn\u2019t plan to do it again.<\/p>\n In the end, the only person Sherald chose to paint from all the people who responded to the call was Welch, who was invited back to Baltimore for a full photo shoot with Sherald. \u201cThat\u2019s how Amy works. She takes a million photos and then she paints from them,\u201d Welch says, remembering how nervous she was at the photo shoot. \u201cI\u2019m not a model and I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to \u2018smile with my eyes\u2019 or to \u2018look serious\u2019 for the camera. But Amy was great\u2014so friendly and welcoming\u2014and she made it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n While Welch eventually found out that Sherald had completed a portrait of her, she didn\u2019t know whether it would be in the New York exhibition until she walked into the gallery last fall. The work, a portrait titled \u201cThe Girl Next Door,\u201d drew the eyes of reviewers as well, who found in it a companionable self-possession that drew them to wonder about the young woman\u2019s life beyond the frame.<\/p>\n<\/i><\/span>
\u201cI saw the portrait of me,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I also saw my mother, my sisters, and the women who came before me\u2014and you know her, too.\u201d<\/span><\/h6><\/blockquote>[vc_empty_space height=”15px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text]The story begins in the summer of 2018, when a friend sent Welch a screenshot of an Instagram post. An unnamed artist was holding a casting call in Baltimore that day and was looking for black models of all sizes and shapes, between the ages of 8 and 80. On a whim, Welch and her sister, who was visiting from out of town, headed to the studio.<\/p>\n