Gwenn Seemel (born 1981) is an American
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
. She paints contemporary portraits and releases her work under
free license
A free license or open license is a license which allows others to reuse another creator’s work as they wish. Without a special license, these uses are normally prohibited by copyright, patent or commercial license. Most free licenses are wo ...
s.
Personal life and education
Seemel lives and works in
Long Beach Island, New Jersey in the
United States.
Career
Seemel mainly paints
portraits. When she paints a portrait, she takes photographs, for an hour, of the sitter before painting them. The sitter is asked to talk about themselves during the
photography session. Seemel creates the painting from the photographs. The paintings consist of "
geometric
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...
patterns and layers of color." Seemel cites
printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
as an inspiration for her painting technique.
Seemel painted a portrait of
Randy Leonard in 2009, which was displayed in the
Portland City Hall. Campaign money was used to buy the painting.
Her 2009 exhibition, "Apple Pie," featured portraits of
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
,
Susan B. Anthony and
Elvis Presley.
In 2010, Seemel partnered with artist
Becca Bernstein to create their version of portraits of ten subjects. Subjects included family members and the artists themselves.
A 2012 exhibition called "Crime Against Nature," includes paintings of animals that don't fit into the
gender binary such as
dolphins and
squirrel
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...
s.
Seemel releases her work under a
free license
A free license or open license is a license which allows others to reuse another creator’s work as they wish. Without a special license, these uses are normally prohibited by copyright, patent or commercial license. Most free licenses are wo ...
, and encourages the remixing, use, and sharing of her work.
See also
*
Anti-copyright
*
Criticism of intellectual property
References
External links
*
Official website
from CubFluffer
Video excerpt from Gwenn Seemel's TED Geneva 2014 talk "In defense of imitation"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seemel, Gwenn
Open content activists
American contemporary painters
American portrait painters
Artists from Portland, Oregon
Living people
1981 births
20th-century American painters
20th-century American women painters
21st-century American women painters
21st-century American painters