UPDATED: Paley’s 11th Portrait by Richard Salcido

Paley and I went over the list of artists back during the holidays of 2018, and one artist stuck out to both of us. Richard Salcido pieces spoke with great emotion. This direction was not only new to our collection but with this artist selection process. It’s was also the beginning of a new chapter for Paley. As always, we were vocal to the artist to keep with their aesthetic. We’ve continued to this because we want the artist to be proud of their piece and make sure it represents their body of work. Granted Papa is always hoping for a piece that is true rendition of the kids. Sadly that number is very slim. 

Working with Richard was great, and the early sketches proved to us that he saw Paley. When we started the process, the two elements we requested was first a graffiti background, and Paley wanted some color in her hair. He asked us to take a photo of Paley with expressions as well as the expression-less. I enlisted the help of our friend Rachel Capil, to shoot her for the portrait. The shots turned out great! 

The finished piece speaks so much to Paley and the next chapter that was coming with middle school. Initially, when we saw the painting with the black shirt with nothing on it, it lost it was missing a voice. In a earlier sketch there was something that translated to the expression of the piece. In communicating with the artist, I might have spooked him a little, and he thought we didn’t like the painting. What we realized and eventually pointed out to Richard was the ampersand used in the sketch is what spoke about the expression on Paley’s face. If you know Paley, she like so many tween, have there moments, and that look is a look I’ve seen several times when dealing with her twin siblings. Hey, twins gang up! I even give them that look. 

Richard saw it, and when he added the sign, the portrait was now glowing to all of us. Paley just lit up when she saw the final product as you see. We’ve been commissioning these portraits now for 11 years, and I truly love how this process always surprises me with each project. We are so excited to add this piece to the collection and can’t wait to see where this new chapter will take us onto the twins 7th portrait. Thank you Richard for a wonderful piece of art!