Haze

This modestly scaled work, painted in shades of brown and yellow, is part of Mckinney’s ongoing portrait practice, one exclusively comprised of Black female subjects. Her compositions, rooted in moody domestic settings, reference art historical sources while fusing explorations of protective leisure spaces, affording the women she paints space to relax, rest, and contemplate on their own terms. Haze is painted in Mckinney’s signature brushy style, with her paint application particularly visible in the patterning of the chair and the figure’s diaphanous garment. Contrasting, flatter portions of the composition allow the highly worked central figure to formally break away from the background. Trained as a photographer, Mckinney imbues her works with a deeply cinematic quality, with their framing mimicking the moody, narrative sensibility of a film still. Ultimately Mckinney’s work is as much about her ongoing portrait practice as it is about her compositional decisions, careful paint application, and economical use of color.