Ter­rence Payne is a Minnesota-based artist who uses pas­tels to cre­ate his por­traits, which upon first glance, paint his sub­jects as look­ing rather regal. That descrip­tion of the peo­ple in his por­traits could be rather fleet­ing, how­ever, as their astute pos­tures and facial expres­sions are often made ridicu­lous with text and osten­ta­tious acces­sories. A lit­tle bit from Terrence’s artist statement:

…the earnest beauty ensu­ing from the clumsy actions of his sub­jects as they stum­ble through life in pur­suit of their ideal exis­tence inspires him. Whether or not they ever reach their pre­scribed poten­tial is irrel­e­vant to Ter­rence, it is the fleet­ing and uni­ver­sal expe­ri­ences that hap­pen along the way, which truly define their humanity.

Ter­rence has a show at the Ros­alux Gallery in Min­neapo­lis, Min­nesota. Open­ing recep­tion this Sat­ur­day, April 16th.

All images via his web­site.