by Michael Barone
It seems that we live in a society that values what you have more than who you are.
People choose their clothing like a mask they wear to portray a role to the rest of the world.
Beneath the façade, we are very similar, with the same wants, needs, doubts and desires.
My “Red Chair Project” is about casting away the stereotypes of the material world and show people for who they really are.
The Red Chair Project consists of nude portrait where the common ground that binds the portraits together is just the chair. Inspired by such beautiful works by Cézanne and Picasso, the red chair is the formal, yet unassuming motif that makes no judgment about the subject who sits upon it. Commoner or King are all equal in the Red Chair.
Subjects are asked to fill out a brief questionnaire about their thoughts and then just sit and talk with me during the photo shoot. No one will be posed, everyone can sit however they are comfortable and feel free to be themselves.
The goal is 100 portraits and I am already half way there. I am looking for women, men and couples from all walks of life to help me with this project.
Once I have reached my goal it is my intent to have a gallery exhibition of all 100 portraits hoping that this mass of images can help eliminate some social boundaries.
I hope you will think about participating in my project. If you do you will have the satisfaction that you are helping tear down the walls of stereotype and showing that we are all the same, we are all members of one race, the human race.
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