Project 1

The Painted Portrait Project

Real People. Real Stories.
Painted Portraits.

The Painted Portrait Project began in 1997 as an intimate part of my own coming-out story. For nearly three decades, I have returned to this concept across different cities, diverse communities, personal relationships, and evolving stages of my life. Today, as I open the doors to my new studio in the SoWa Art and Design District in Boston, I am returning to this project with ambitious plans for larger, more complex compositions.

This project is a true creative collaboration between you and me. I create expressive, contemporary paintings of LGBTQ+ individuals, couples, and straight friends, celebrating the many unique ways we connect, love, and belong. Together, we are building a living visual history that balances identity, intimacy, friendship, and the profound way people exist together.

Before I ever touch brush to canvas, I want to understand the true scene unfolding. Who are you to one another? What are you doing? Why does this specific moment matter? The story helps me interpret the emotional tone of the painting.

Good2CU, created by artist Gyan Samara in the summer of 1999. Acrylic paint on panel, 42 × 72 inches. The painting was donated to the LGBT Center at the University of Pennsylvania, along with the other paintings in the series.

Exhibition Goals and Inspiration

Along with your collection of images, I request that you share a one- or two-paragraph personal statement detailing anything you wish to express. With your permission, this written narrative is intended to be displayed alongside your finished painting in a future art exhibition.

My goal is to assemble 50 to 100 complete portraits ranging in scale from 9 × 12 inches to 48 × 48-inch canvases. Once this body of work is realized, I plan to seek a gallery space to exhibit the entire collection together for the first time. My intention is to invite local participants to the physical gallery opening and share the reception live via Instagram with our global community. A venue and exhibition date have not yet been confirmed.

Artists and Ideas to Explore

If you are looking for creative starting points regarding mood, intimacy, composition, and color, I invite you to explore these artists:

Alice Neel Official Website: I deeply love her narrative portraits of her friends sitting comfortably on couches.
The Art Renewal Center Henry Scott Tuke Gallery: Research Henry Scott Tuke, a turn-of-the-century artist whose paintings of swimming, bathing, and life by the water offer inspiration for light and composition.
Oleksandr Balbyshev Studio: Explore his contemporary oil paintings that celebrate figurative masculinity, vulnerability, and tenderness.
Andrew Salgado Fine Art: Study his portfolios featuring highly saturated color layers and symbolic figures shifting across the canvas.

Everyday Life Is Interesting: Think Like a Director

You do not need to invent something dramatic or performative for this project. Ordinary, unposed moments can make powerful, emotionally resonant paintings. I am deeply inspired by the quiet, real rhythms of everyday life and environments.

I want you to use your camera creatively to capture intentional, intimate slices of life that I could not normally photograph for you in your home, rather than random selfies or tourist snapshots. When filming or photographing your scene, think like a director, not a tourist. Take creative license with your phone and choose your angles, cropping, distance, gesture, and light with clear intention.

Intimate Moments to Explore

Daily Routines: One partner eating in a restaurant while the other photographs them, someone studying at a table, or a couple relaxing together after a long day of work.
Quiet Rhythms: Cooking in the kitchen, reading together in bed, getting dressed, or waiting patiently for the morning coffee to brew.
Texture, Pattern, and Light: I love physical textures and the play of light. Walls, blankets, clothing, furniture, deep shadows, and windows can all build the composition. If your apartment is messy, leave it messy. If your clothes have heavy patterns, wear them. The background is a vital part of the story. Everything should feel intentional, but never artificial.

Paintings created between 1999 and 2007 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for The Painted Portrait Project. Acrylic on panel.

Photography and Collaboration Instructions

I work directly from photographs, including close-ups and headshots, that you capture yourself or that a friend takes for you. In a traditional live studio environment, I typically shoot about 300 photographs and work closely with the subject to narrow the field down to 5 to 10 excellent shots. For this collaborative digital process, I ask that you provide a diverse pool of options for us to build a painting from.

Send a Series, Not One Photo: Please send approximately 10 to 15 strong photographs. Try capturing different angles, distances, positions, expressions, and fleeting moments within the same core idea.
Image Quality: Use the highest-quality resolution setting available on your phone. Photograph close enough that I can clearly see facial structures, bodies, gestures, and the subtleties of your environment. High-resolution images provide a far better foundation for me to explore.
Composition and Reflection: Remember that a standard smartphone selfie and a strong painted portrait composition are two different things. Focus on tight or interesting crops, such as an over-the-shoulder view, shooting through a doorway, or using mirror reflections to add layers to the story.
Coupled Curation: For coupled portraits, the visual narrative is a deep conversation between two people. Please capture real interactions of the two of you together, as well as individual close-ups taken separately.

Participation, Trust, and Location Logistics

The Painted Portrait Project is built entirely on respect, honesty, and mutual trust.

Community and Context: LGBTQ+ participants should be openly part of the community and comfortable appearing within this explicitly LGBTQ+ body of work. Straight friends and allies are also welcome, with the same understanding of the project's context.
Privacy and Safety: I am committed to participant privacy and safety. I do not intend to out anyone through my studio artwork. Participation requires a model release and a minimum age of 19. Before publication or exhibition, we will agree on how your image, name, and personal statement may be used. Public artwork can still be recognizable even when a name is withheld, so anonymity cannot be guaranteed.
Anonymous Participation: If you are a global or local volunteer and do not wish your identity to be published or displayed, please let me know before sending reference photographs. There are creative ways to be photographed so that your face is not shown. For instance, a composition of two people looking out to sea with their backs turned can be a powerful photograph and make a magnificent painting. Any identifying reference photograph must be shared privately, and we will discuss what can safely be shown publicly.
Artwork Ownership: The original physical painting remains my property as the artist for exhibition and collection registry purposes. Participants whose portraits are completed will receive a high-resolution digital image of the finished portrait for their personal archives, as well as a physical print sent by a print house where lawful and deliverable. If receiving LGBTQ+-themed artwork is prohibited in your location, I cannot dispatch a physical print there. Shipping feasibility and privacy considerations will be discussed before participation is finalized.
Global and Local Volunteers: Volunteers are welcome from anywhere in the world. If you live within the Greater Boston area, we can arrange to meet and discuss the project in person at my SoWa studio. If you live elsewhere, we can begin a conversation through Instagram and agree on an appropriate way to share photographs and personal information.

These paintings were created by Gyan Samara between 1999 and 2022. Gyan Samara plans to repaint the last painting shown in the video at his Boston SoWa studio.

Let's Create a Painting Together

If you are interested in volunteering to help shape the next generation of these paintings, please send a direct message to my studio account on Instagram at @thepaintedportraitproject or visit gyansamaraart.com.

When you submit your inquiry, please include:

Your current age.
What part of the world you call home.
If you are comfortable sharing, how you identify within the LGBTQ+ community, or whether you are joining as a straight ally.
A short reflection on why you believe you, your partner, or your group would be collaborators for this series.
A current reference photograph shared privately. This must be a clear, non-blurry photograph of yourself taken in 2026 or 2027. It must be a direct headshot with no obstructions covering your face, such as sunglasses, hats, masks, or deep artistic shadows. Applications featuring obstructed or blurred faces cannot be considered. This private reference requirement is separate from our agreement about whether your face or identity appears in public artwork.

Thank you for your vulnerability, your trust, and your willingness to share the beautiful, ordinary stories that make us human.

Good2CU — Gyan Samara
Summer 1999 · Acrylic paint on panel · 42 × 72 inches
This image shows the correct orientation of the painting. Some earlier uploads, including the video above, accidentally show the image reversed.

Apply to participate ↓