Michele Mikesell, The Cat, Oil on Canvas, 2025

The Cat Oil on canvas 60 x 60 in 152 x 152 cm Michele Mikesell’s "The Boar" is a surreal, figurative oil painting that draws the viewer into its curious tension between the everyday and the archetypal. At its center sits a man with a finely painted, realistic face, his body clothed in a patterned tunic marked with bold black clubs and elongated red stockings. He rests in a deep green armchair, his long legs extending across a striped floor, the scene both intimate and theatrical. The palette is restrained yet striking: cream and beige walls adorned with faint motifs, dark green upholstery, and the vivid red of the stockings that electrify the composition. The figure’s gaze is steady, enigmatic, almost challenging, while the title — The Boar — hints at an unseen layer of metaphor. Mikesell often merges human portraiture with animal symbolism, suggesting strength, endurance, or untamed instinct hidden beneath civilized costume. The scraped, layered surface adds depth and texture, giving the painting a sensual tactility and a sense of time worn into its skin. The Boar exemplifies Mikesell’s ability to transform figuration into allegory — at once witty, mysterious, and compelling. For collectors, it is a statement piece: contemporary portraiture infused with surreal charm and symbolic intrigue.