Most of the portraits of contemporary artists are in a hyper-realistic style, because most people like hyper-realism, and the characters drawn by hyper-realism appear delicate and realistic. For painters, hyper-realistic works can be completed with the help of digital technology, which is convenient, fast and efficient, which is why many painters are keen to paint hyper-realism.
However, William Oakes' figure paintings are in the classical style, with clear brushstrokes, which shows the artist's exquisite classicist painting skills.
A good work of art must be emotionally moving, the technique can be imitated, and the emotion invested by the painter comes from the heart. William Oakes's works use large brushstrokes and smooth lines to express a poetic beauty, as if it is the ancient poetry of the Scottish nation, romantic, deep, evocative, showing the painter's unique temperament and aesthetic taste.
More than 100 years ago, classicism was attacked by various new art schools, which were considered conservative and outdated, so that the works of the classicist masters were left out in the cold, until the middle and late last century, when the academic classicist style was re-emphasized.
William Oakes once expressed his creative feelings: "I am perhaps an old soul, my work is quiet, and I like to paint small, harmonious and reflective works on the evenings when there is a fire in autumn and winter, perhaps a distant sense of the roots of the northern past".
Imagine a cold autumn and winter night, with a small fire jumping in the fireplace outside the house, and the painter looking at the young and beautiful model under the light.
William Oakes was born in 1973, a successful painter with an international influence, at a very young age. Fresh out of college, William Oakes' first job was as an assistant to an art collector, restoring vintage paintings while also taking orders for portraits. His portraits were so good that he was overwhelmed and had to quit his job to become a professional painter.