Mickey Baroody

a virtual exhibit of work by the 2020 MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Fellows

My project while in the Storytellers’ Institute was a series of portraits. This summer, wrought with anxiety and the intake of extreme amounts of information, mostly negative, I wanted to focus on what was right in front of me, what or who I can access right now. The heads in these paintings depict the friends who I quarantined with and spent the most time with. The landscapes they are up against are completely invented and are my attempt at layering meaning into the paintings. Landscapes are intertwined with our spirit and our bodies. Inspired by painter Sussana Coffey, my process was to build up the heads and the landscapes simultaneously and suggest a push and pull between the two. The landscape becomes representative of the subject’s emotional state, personality, and inner world.

Mickey Baroody
is a rising senior and Studio Art major. His primary disciplines are drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. His work focuses on the figure, ranging from portraits of friends and family, to abstract representations of the body. Drawing from philosophy, history, and personal experience, his work aims to consider the complexities of recognition and the ways in which identity is revealed.

Work of the Fellows * Work of the Institute * Exhibition Description