Monel Aliote

New York based contemporary portrait painter, Monel Aliote endeavors to convey the essence of a person to the viewer through portraiture. Going beyond a mere likeness, Aliote looks to the emotions, attitudes, intentions, and moods of the individuals he chooses to depict in an attempt to evoke the spirit and soul of the individual upon the canvas.

He started drawing at the age of 14. In 2009 he won a Gold Key presented by the Art Scholastic Art & Writing Awards And Alliances for Young Artists & Writers and was part of a group exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum. He then began studying drawing at The Art Students League of New York and has since further developed his self-taught ability by studying masterful portraits painter such as Kehinde Wiley, Kerry James Marshall, and Barkley L. Hendricks. Monel often strive for exact visual likenesses. However, exact replication is not always the goal. He intentionally alter the appearance of his subjects by embellishing or refining their images to emphasize or decrease particular qualities (physical, psychological, or social) of the subject.