Todd White captures restaurant, night and Hollywood scenes with contrasting colors serving the viewerís eyes as those in his stolen scenes serve or are served wine, coffee, cigarettes, cigars, martinis, and sex. He creates timeless scenes of diverse attraction, of known intimacy. Within the exaggerated features and textured skin of his characters lies truth, yours and theirs. Distinctive bodies and details to lips, eyes, hair, skin, hands and what is held in each, separate and blend his characters lives. The smoke that rises from their lips, the drinks that linger at their fingertips, the clothing that adorns their bodies and the crowd created among lovers, friends, patrons, and co-workers all speak a certain poetry. Each character depicts the subtleties of what one shows and what one hides. An asymmetrical face tells of an asymmetrical life, of how life wears and how we wear life—what we choose to carry in our hands and on our faces—how we wear ourselves, what smoke and color we stand in.
Todd began in at Warner Brothers Studios while working on the popular series, Tiny Toons. Through character clean up and development, Todd began to forge his own artistic style. Shortly thereafter, Todd became part of the lead animation team for the internationally renowned cartoon, Sponge Bob Square Pants. Over the next three years, Todd sharpened his eye in storyboarding, illustration and character design.
Throughout this period, Todd privately experimented with style and concept, eventually arriving at a process that guides him through every piece. The impact is apparent in his paintings; Todd’s rat-pack-meets-Picasso style results, in part, from his desire to reveal his characters’ innermost thoughts and emotions on their faces. Todd likens his portraits to his favorite episode of The Twilight Zone in which people wore masks that later became their faces and revealed who they truly were.
Fast forward ten years later, and until Todd can conceptually see the story in his head, he refuses to paint a single signature knuckle curled around one of his famous martinis. I actually name my pieces first and then I visualize each fact and its personality. Then I develop each person’s story.
