Portrait of America

Julie Fought

A National Portrait Project

Portrait of America is an ongoing painting project by Los Angeles–based artist Richard Nielsen. Created during the 250th anniversary era of the United States, the project seeks to build a living archive of the people who inhabit the country today through painted portraiture, digital communication, and direct public participation.

The project begins through Craigslist, a platform that continues to function as an unusually broad cross-section of American life. Part flea market, part community bulletin board, and part classified archive, Craigslist remains one of the few large digital spaces where people of different classes, professions, regions, political views, ages, faiths, and cultural backgrounds continue to occupy the same public square. Like the country itself, the platform contains practical exchanges, strange personal expressions, generosity, loneliness, humor, commerce, and attempts to find connection.

Using Craigslist as a point of contact, Portrait of America invites people across the United States to commission individual painted portraits of themselves, family members, friends, or children. Participants begin through an extended email exchange with the artist and submit a portrait photograph created using their phone or personal device. While many participants choose to make selfies, photographs made by friends or family members are also welcome.

The transmission of the image is an important part of the work itself. Shared digitally across devices and distance, the photograph carries traces of communication, memory, compression, interpretation, and technological exchange before ultimately being translated into paint, ink, paper, and physical form. The project transforms temporary electronic self-images into lasting handmade objects.

From each submitted image, Richard Nielsen creates two original painted portraits by hand on archival paper in his established 23.5 × 35 inch portrait format. Although both paintings originate from the same source image, they are never identical works. The participant selects one portrait to keep in their home or workplace, while the second enters the permanent archive of the project.

Portraits have historically served many purposes: remembrance, prestige, family continuity, commemoration, artistic exploration, and personal legacy. Over time, portraits often move beyond the lives of the individuals depicted and become part of a larger visual and cultural history. Portrait of America continues within that lineage while using contemporary systems of communication and self-representation as its point of departure.

Individually, each portrait functions as both a personal object and an original artwork. Collectively, the portraits form a growing archive connected through Craigslist and the communities that continue to gather there. Over time, the archive itself becomes a larger group portrait composed through accumulation — an evolving image of the many people who together inhabit the United States of America.

As the project expands, portraits may eventually be organized geographically through an evolving map of participating cities and regions, creating visible clusters of community and connection across the country. Beginning in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle, the project is intended to grow slowly over time through participation, correspondence, and the shared act of representation.

The archive is ultimately intended to function both as an artwork and as a public-facing collection that may take the form of exhibitions, installations, publications, or books. At its center, Portrait of America is hopeful. It proposes that portraiture can still carry dignity and meaning, that attention still matters, and that ordinary people deserve to be included within the visual memory of their time and place.

Participation & Commission Information

Participation in Portrait of America begins through an initial email exchange with the artist. Interested individuals are encouraged to introduce themselves, describe their city or region, and ask any questions about the project before beginning the commission process.

Once the project details, timeline, and format are agreed upon, a $500 deposit is required to begin.

Participants are then asked to create a portrait photograph using the camera on their phone or personal digital device. While many participants choose to make selfies, photographs created by friends, partners, parents, or family members are also welcome. Portraits are created as individual single-person works.

Using the submitted image, Richard Nielsen creates two original painted portraits by hand on archival 23.5 × 35 inch Strathmore paper, a durable acid-free paper traditionally associated with professional printmaking and publishing processes. Nielsen has used this format for portrait projects and exhibitions for more than a decade, establishing a consistent visual structure across the growing archive.

When the paintings are complete, the participant receives documentation of both works and selects the portrait they would like to keep. The second portrait remains within the permanent archive of Portrait of America.

Participants may choose between two final formats:

• Mounted / stretched portrait: $2,000
• Unmounted archival paper portrait: $1,500

Mounted works are adhered by hand to stretched canvas prior to shipment. Unmounted works are carefully packaged and shipped flat.

Estimated completion time is approximately 4–8 weeks.

Standard continental United States shipping is included. Optional shipping insurance is available upon request.

Each completed portrait is accompanied by a signed note and project documentation. Selected works may also appear on the project website, in exhibitions, publications, or future collected archives. Participants may choose whether their names are included publicly or whether the portrait appears anonymously with only the city or region identified.

The project welcomes participants from all backgrounds, professions, identities, ages, and family histories. Portraits of minors are welcome with parent or guardian participation and consent. No specific citizenship status or institutional affiliation is required. If you participate in life within the United States in any way, you are welcome within the archive.