These paintings {oil on aluminum!?} are the most recent work by American artist Hilary Swingle. I’ve always had a thing for female portraiture, and lately I’ve been all about hyper-real bows so, clearly, these gorgeous pieces are working for me! Now, as joyful as those ribbons are, you might notice the subjects are not happy at all. Here’s why:

“Hilary Swingle was brought up in a home which didn’t celebrate holidays. These oil paintings explore the threads between her social anxiety and the exclusion from these festivities while in her youth. The bows symbolize anxiety and inflict an irrational weight on her subjects.”

Beautiful and powerful, much like the artist herself.

{Found via Ashley Longshore … she just bought one of Hilary’s pieces. Smart move.}