WATCH: Painter Bryce Mandel's Fairfax High 1941

Painter Bryce Mandel has been working on a series of painted portraits, titled, Fairfax High 1941 in which he paints, evaluates, reflects on, and glamorizes the faces featured in the yearbook for the graduating class of Fairfax High School, 1941, including his grandmothers, which he will get around to once the pressure isn’t so high. There is something delicate and wistful about the airbrush in portraiture; the softness, the shyness. It is because of these features that airbrush portraits are often made for eulogizing those who have passed on. In that sense, the medium is particularly poignant choice considering the fates of those featured - not only because of their assumed current states, but also when considering the fact that these faces were photographed mere months before the outbreak of World War Two - and particularly compelling when contrasted by their youthful faces. We are always enthusiastic about peeking into the works in progress of artists, painters, weirdos, eclectics, and people who hone in on something, and this video created by Ian Wishart is precisely up our alley. Give it a watch and remain on the lookout for more from Bryce and Ian.