Neeraj Narayan's bold and piercing portraits at Salem's Stefani Art Gallery find the strength and dignity in their subjects' faces (and sometimes, the backs of their heads).

Bringing out the dignity in everyday people: Neeraj Narayan’s portraits at Salem’s Stefani Art Gallery.

SALEM — Two men, walking down the sidewalk alongside Stefani Art Gallery in Salem, stop to stare at a painting in the window. It’s hard to miss Neeraj Narayan’s installation, The Space Between.

The glass front wraps around the building in which the gallery sits on the corner of Commercial and Court streets. Instead of just glancing in and admiring the pieces from outside, they go in, drawn by the large dynamic canvases.

The piece that brings them in is Rebel, an oil and acrylic painting in monochrome. Its stylized presentation resembles a black-and-white photograph.

But what stops them and holds their stare is one painting in particular, Lunch Bucket, Narayan’s tribute to the Portland blue-collar working man. They, too, are working men, who have just gotten off the job. They stop and talk to the owner, but their eyes never leave the painting for long: They see themselves reflected in the work.

Neeraj Narayan’s Lunch Bucket: A piercing tribute to working men and women.

 The figure in the piece wears a tank top, his hair is spiked, his blue eyes are piercing, his bearded face is covered in what appears to be grit and dirt, as is his body. His face stares out at the viewer. It is neither confrontational nor defiant; rather he seems to want to be acknowledged for the hard work he does that keeps the wheels of progress turning.

“I feel like men here work hard. I want to make a tribute to them,” Narayan says.

The large size and limited color palette that Narayan uses on most of his work is part of its impact. Each piece often has brilliantly colored paint runs or crayon accents. Most of the work has been created using one or more painting mediums. He combines oils, acrylic, crayons, and spray paint to create his portraits. He doesn’t limit himself.

“When I paint, I don’t look at media first. I try to use what can bring out the best in that painting,” Narayan says.

“I stand to paint, and that’s why I need bigger canvases. The other reason (is when) we scale people out bigger than life … it makes them special. When you go to church, the paintings are intentionally made larger than life, and that is what I love doing for ordinary people.”

While his tools are diverse, his subject matter is almost always people. He finds his inspiration in the people he sees every day.

“I love painting people’s faces,” he says. “There is something about it, capturing the emotion or feeling. I love to glance at people when they walk towards you. I just try to capture that in my mind and then go back and paint.

“I’m also a photographer. I spend a lot of time photographing people, so you will see that there are a lot of elements of photography I use in my painting. I love looking at people’s eyes. For example, how the light falls on people’s eyes, and I notice all that. I think that eyes lead to the heart,” he says.

Strong and forthright: Neeraj Narayan’s painting Tatjana.

Tatjana is one such piece. The large portrait is done in black and white with minimal skin tones, and is highlighted by a long bright pink paint drip and pink spatters. These add a dynamic that draws the viewer’s eye to the side of the painting, where she is looking off the canvas. This device creates ambiguity and interest. The story has now left our frame of reference. The viewer is left waiting for the story to be finished.

Red is erotic and teases the viewer. Standing by herself, her back to the viewer, a beautiful Black woman, her face in profile is turned away from the viewer. Her skin shines in the painter’s light and is an explosive contrast to her red dress and red background, with a black and white framing on one side. She’s in motion, and she leaves a trail of red paint.

Neeraj Narayan’s painting Red.

Narayan’s work often tells the story of his vision of America and Portland. A native of India and a former Nike engineer, he has used his art to depict his vision of the country.

Serena Williams and Michael Jordan were America to him before he came here. They embodied his idea of the country.

“I moved to the U.S. in 2016 … this was my vision of the U.S. … Michael and Serena and some other Hollywood stars before that,” Narayan says. “That’s what I knew about America. That is my presentation of what America stands for.”

Above: Neeraj Narayan, portraits of Serena Williams and Michael Jordan. Below left: Neeraj Narayan, Apparentia. Below right: Neeraj Narayan, Rebel.

Captured between the paintings of Williams and Jordan is a portrait of an African American man who is emerging out of a background of a yellow. His body and face are highlighted by multicolored paint drips, creating the impression of lines and circuits. Apparentia is a new man for a new century.

Throughout the gallery more instances of his storytelling takes us on his American voyage. In Thoughts, a portrait of the back of a black man’s head, the man is wearing several combs in his hair and symbolizes the importance of these to African American culture.

The significance of the comb in Black culture: NeeraijNarayan’s painting Thoughts.

“This was my own learning moment,” Narayan says of this portrait and learning about African American heritage. Combs are a significant part of African culture and their use as symbols of status, beauty, status and religious beliefs. Their use dates back more than 6,000 years. They were also a symbol of Black pride and empowerment during the 1960s and 1970s, according to The Fitzwilliam Museum and the History Workshop.

This is Narayan’s first public show. He was discovered, so to speak, by Christina Stefani, the owner of the gallery, who heard about his work from a mutual friend.

“I am thankful to Christina for believing in me and my art,” Narayan says. “It was her idea to, let’s do this here, introduce (my work) to more people. It was great. I’ve met so many people in the past few days. I am thankful to her for her trust and believing in my work.”

Artist Neeraj Narayan with his painting Lunch Bucket.

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Neeraj Narayan’s installation The Space Between will be on exhibit until Aug. 31. Stefani Art Gallery is open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, or by appointment, at 305 Court St. N.E., Salem. For more information, call (971) 458-3432 or visit stefaniartgallery.com.