I came across The Pool Gallery by chance and was really impressed by the Darkside Portraits by James Gortner. Very obviously american painter, Gortner portaits document and simultaneously personify the lives of the living in a Harlem crack house.

Created by layering paintings, found objects, with the mix of materials, canvas, wood, and gaps, Gortner’s paintings have a true life. With the worn and dejected feeling of his choice of media contrastly the figures represented are jovial and dignified.