Gregory Ferrand's paintings that capture our complicated, emotional lives

Let's be honest. Life can be complicated. Isolation, alienation, and solitude – these are the emotions we can sometimes experience, even when it feels like everything's going our way. While technology and entertainment keep us connected and informed, they also contribute to the complexity of our relationships, which includes family at its core. Gregory Ferrand captures the loneliness we feel even when surrounded by those we love.

Written By: Katy Cowan

18 December 2017

A 1950s-style painting of several people in a rural setting, with a woman in a red and white striped shirt looking distant in the foreground, while others stand near a red truck, all appearing emotionally disconnected despite their proximity

Each of the American artist's paintings invites us into a world of stories and beautifully portrayed details. We come to know the people who inhabit his works by the clothes they wear, the paintings they hang on their walls, the books they read and the smartphones they carry. Their sense of wariness is further amplified by the stylised palettes Gregory chooses for each painting.

Based in Washington, DC, Gregory pulls on influences as wide-ranging as comics, Mexican muralists, and 1950's fashion to create paintings that reveal the beauty of living; in all its mundane, pain, and glory.

Stylised portrait painting of a smiling man with dark slicked hair against a warm beige background with rural farmland and buildings behind him

Portrait of a blonde woman with a broad smile, painted in warm yellow and beige tones with a rural house visible in the background

You can see his latest works in a solo exhibition called It IS You (and me too) at the Adah Rose Gallery until 5 January 2018. "My most recent work explores the feeling and reality of being disconnected and alienated (which results in multiple personal realities), despite and sometimes because of the close proximity in which we live to one and other.

"It is ironic that we, as innately social animals, often struggle to feel connected with friends, family, our communities, society, and the world at large. To overcome this, we set aside our basic instincts and learned biases in order to be 'open'. We hope, by doing so, to form a connection, so that we can reassure ourselves that we are not alone, that we share the same reality with someone else.

"But what is reality? And what is the truth? These questions, in regards to the human experience, are questions that have long informed the work that I create. None of the paintings in this exhibition provide the answers to these questions. Instead, they are invitations for the viewer to enter the narrative, armed with their own understanding of the world, in order to have an authentic moment to share, identify with, and to find the answer(s) to these questions for themselves."

A couple embrace in muted tones whilst figures in a warm-lit room beyond them appear emotionally distant, depicting emotional disconnection despite physical proximity

A stylised painting depicting a group of people of various ages holding rifles at what appears to be a shooting range, rendered in warm terracotta and pink tones with a 1950s aesthetic.

Gregory Ferrand painting showing two couples in a mid-century interior; the left pair smiles while looking at a device, the right pair embraces, with monochromatic figures visible between them against a turquoise wall

He adds: "In this day and age when it can feel impossible to understand how our neighbor could raise their children the way they do, how they could behave the way they do, how they could vote the way they do, it is incumbent upon us to reflect on the realities we construct that make us different, and also try to see how, by just being human, we are the same."