Fine Art Meets Facebook

While selecting the proper profile picture as a stand-in for your online persona might not be the end all and be all of social media decisions, it certainly says a lot about who you are and will be the first thing that most people see. So how to stand out from the crowds with something other than a well snapped photograph showing you on one of your best coiffed days?

Enter Brooklyn artist Matt Held who turned to Facebook when he lacked inspiration for his latest painting project. What began as a single portrait of his wife’s profile picture has grown into a Facebook group called “I’ll have my Facebook portrait painted by Matt Held” that as of the writing of this piece counts 2,284 members from across the globe and prompted him to start a blog about the project - Portrait Painted. While most of his subjects are chosen at random, once someone has been selected, he peruses their profiles to get a better sense of their personality so that he can approach each work with an additional layer of meaning. Held has a goal of completing 200 works and exhibiting them in a physical gallery when the project is complete. 

An excerpt from the Facebook page explains:

With the development of social networking sites, I’ve developed an interest in how people take simple or complex snapshots of themselves, post them to their page as a representation of who they are and what they want people to see. It is an interesting form of control and, in a way, self-preservation. However, there is a strong likelihood that many people who don’t know you will see this photo representation and make passing judgments as to who you may or may not be, much in the same way we make passing judgments on people we see in our neighborhoods every day.

[NY Daily News]