From The Artist 

My paintings consist of portraits, representational and nonrepresentational. 

I often use cats, specifically the hairless sphynx, as my “familiar” when I paint myself or my children.  I am currently painting a series called The Cuban Series, which is a community of Cuban humans represented by their shoes.  On a recent trip there, I photographed pairs of shoes after the owners had arranged them and been briefly interviewed.  I believe a person’s shoes tell more about them than the flesh on their face that they did not choose, as society often judges a human by many unchosen aspects: skin color, gender, age, race, and sexual orientation.

–Stephanie Huye

About The Artist 

Stephanie Huye lives and paints in the South, where she grew up. She graduated from Louisiana State University School of Fine Arts.  She receives great pleasure from stretching and building her own canvases. She is a contemporary, narrative artist who works mostly in oil. A life-changing event was when Huye discovered new family members through genealogy that revealed they were descendants of a Louisiana slave owner. A defining moment in her search for self-knowledge and insight into the past was discovering dear cousins who are black, and share the same ancestry. It was a life altering epiphany, as Huye’s work is based in large part on the human condition and the struggles inherent therein. Her portraits explore racial and cultural differences, traditional male/female roles, preconceptions, prejudices, different socio-economic backgrounds, the LGBTQ community, perceptions, and body image—anything involved with the human outer shell, which we have little or no control over. Whether she is painting traditional portraits (‘human shells’), or doing representational portraits, using apparel or shoes as the vehicle, the narrative always asks the same two questions: “Who are we?” and “Who do others think we are?” Huye draws artistic inspiration from Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Jenny Saville, and Lucien Freud. She uses photography and mirror work for her portraits. When working from her own photos, she sets up and shoots the subject herself, according to the desired narrative. Her voice is full of irony, sarcasm, and a symbolic language demanding, “Justice for all!”