Vis à Vis Todd Severson

“Looking through one of Todd Severson’s portraiture collections is like returning to your hometown after having been away for years. These faces should be familiar, but they lie concealed in a flurry of half-remembrances. Severson’s myriad images of African American artists, icons of the West, first ladies, and women on death row raise questions about our American evaluation and validation of diversity, mythology, politics, and justice. They spring from the artist’s own return to the United States after nearly a decade abroad in Germany and England. His rapid, at times aggressive techniques point to an almost frenzied attempt to establish a connection to those types that so define this country not only within but beyond its borders. These paintings are a record of American pop culture on a personal, a national, and an international level.” Mr. Severson lives in Houston, TX.