{"data":{"id":"8317","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":8317,"topgoose_id":1072,"tms_id":8317,"display_name":"Elizabeth Peyton","sort_name":"Peyton Elizabeth","display_date":"1965–","begin_date":"1965","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eElizabeth Peyton reinvigorated portraiture\nin the early 1990s with small-scale,\nstylized paintings depicting historical figures\n(Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte),\nEuropean royalty (Queen Elizabeth II\nwhen she was still a princess, Princess\nDiana of Wales), and rock stars (Kurt Cobain,\nJohnny Rotten). These works, which are\nbased on photographs, film stills, paintings,\nand television, portray her subjects\nduring private, contemplative moments,\nlending them a quiet intimacy. Later in\nthe decade she incorporated models in her\nacquaintance, using snapshots of\nfriends, family, and art-world notables, or\nsketching from life. “I think about how\ninfluential some people are in other’s lives.\nSo it doesn’t matter who they are or how\nfamous they are but rather how beautiful is\nthe way they live their lives and how\ninspiring they are for others,” Peyton has\nsaid, explaining her idealized, neo-romantic\ninterpretations of subjects. “And I find\nthis in people I see frequently as much as\nin people I never met.”\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe self-portrait \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/20876\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eLive to Ride (E.P.)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\nis characteristic of what Peyton describes\nas her “pictures of people,” capturing\nthe same androgynous beauty— defined by\na waifish figure, disheveled hair, sharp\nbone structure, translucent skin, and ruby\nlips—found in many of her renderings.\nThis uncanny visual echoing gives the sense\nthat some of her other portraits may, in\nfact, be variations on a self-portrait. And\nwhile this image possesses Peyton’s\nsignature intimacy with the artist languidly\nresting on a pillow, in contrast to the dreamy,\ndetached gazes of her usual subjects,\nshe stares outward, directly confronting\nthe viewer.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500116160","wikidata_id":"Q442486","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:04:29.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-10T07:04:30.354-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/8317/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/8317/exhibitions"}}}}