"Through the Mist", Oil on Canvas, Elaine Clayman. Provided photo.

Since John Ringling brought his circus to Sarasota in 1927, artists have flocked to the area, creating a cultural legacy rooted in the arts. Today that legacy lives on, through both the economic driver of cultural tourism stemming from the area’s performing and visual arts organizations, and a near constant influx of new, independent artists.

One such artist making her Sarasota debut is the painter Elaine Clayman, who released her series, Unheard, at Andrew Ford Fine Art Gallery on August 7. A native New Yorker, Clayman moved to Sarasota in 2021 and splits time between the two places. Clayman, a commissioned portrait artist and contemporary narrative figurative painter, has a long history of exhibiting in New York and was the owner/director of the Elaine Clayman Gallery, in Nyack, New York, for over a decade.

Clayman’s five original oil paintings in Unheard delve into the human condition. Working in sepia tones, Clayman creates atmospheric depictions of individuals designed to pull the viewer into the work, similar to an author pulling a reader into a story. In Unheard, a man plays the piano by himself, pools of light framing his figure. “You don’t always have to have an audience,” says Clayman. “I had a friend who would play the piano by himself in the middle of the night—which I found inspiring as a visual artist.”

In her latest series, Clayman employs isolation as a way to delve into human psychology. Through the Mist and Unveiled feature figures alone, caught in a state of reflection. “It is about what it means to be human and that psychological feeling of being alone,” says Clayman. “I want the viewer to say, ‘Is that me?’ when they look at the painting. I want them to be unable to get the image out of their head.”

Elaine Clayman’s art is on view at Andrew Ford Fine Art, 506 South Pineapple Ave, Sarasota

"Through the Mist", Oil on Canvas, Elaine Clayman. Provided photo.

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