I photographed and painted a portrait of Audrey Flack, the matriarch of Photorealism.

It was a long time coming and could have been sooner, but I lacked the confidence to approach her. It was easier to ask others passively for an introduction.

But as luck would have it, after listening to the Art Grind podcast where Audrey was being interviewed, I reached out to the interviewer to introduce me to her via an Instagram message. Months went by, and there was no response. I was finished being passive, and when I got an email invite to attend an awards ceremony for Audrey Flack at the Players Club in NYC, I decided to go and ask her directly.

With my good friend and wingwoman Joyce, we entered the club, and there she was. I swallowed hard and started sweating, but I went over to her, congratulated her, and asked if I could paint her portrait. She thanked me and said to talk to her assistant, Sevi, and pointed him out to me.

Before I lost my nerve, I introduced myself and asked him if I could paint Audrey. He said he had seen my messages, checked me out online, and liked my work. He mentioned that a well-known male artist wanted to paint her, and without missing a beat, Joyce said, "But he's a man." You have to love Joyce.

I spoke to Sevi about being a woman with few connections in the art industry. So far, I had made my way mostly alone and had some street cred, and he agreed. He showed me a picture of Audrey and asked if this would be a good image to work with. I said I prefer to photograph her myself. He gave me his number and said let's text more about this.

My friend and I enjoyed the rest of the evening hearing about the awardees, The Andy Warhol Foundation and Audrey Flack, for their lifetime support of the Artist's Fellowship. This private charitable foundation financially assists professional visual artists and their families in times of emergency, disability, or grief.

After what seemed like months, it was only a few weeks, I received a text from Sevi about setting up a date for a visit and photoshoot in May of 2023. YES!

My friend and fellow realist painter Andrea Alvin told me once that if I ever photographed Audrey, I had better bring her along. A few days before the shoot, I called my friend and said, "Don't ask me where we are going, but we need to go to the city for a secret adventure." As I'm terrible at keeping secrets like this one, I didn't last beyond the phone call when I told her. She was ecstatic.

On the day of the photoshoot, we went to Audrey's Upper East Side studio and sat down to talk to her and Sevi while I shot my images. We talked about cameras and why she painted so large. I was so nervous I could barely recall what I said. I moaned about the misogyny in the art world and some of my experiences. Which she very much related to.

Thirty minutes later, I was looking at the photos with her, and I knew which one I wanted to use as my reference photo for the painting, but would she pick the same one? She did and said, "I'm done." We wrapped up the session, said our goodbyes, and I left, hoping to meet her again to reveal the portrait to her and continue our chat.

I kept most of this adventure to myself until I went to my gallery's, Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, 20th-anniversary party. They suspected I photographed her because of an Instagram photo of Audrey, Andrea, and me, but that was all they knew. I enjoyed delivering the news to them and some art collectors at the party that I would paint a portrait of her.

Fast forward to mid-November 2023, when I finished Audrey's portrait painting. I knew it was an important painting once I started. Although I felt lots of pressure, I took my time to carefully represent the matriarch of Photorealism with dignity, grace, and a little bit of defiance.

I painted her portrait for four months and shared only a few work-in-progress photos with Audrey, Sevi, and my gallery. Once I finished, I sent everyone a high-rez file of the painting. When my gallery saw the picture of the final painting, they invited me to show it at Context Art Miami.

After sending the same jpeg to Audrey on IG, I received a message from Audrey that I cherish, and it keeps me painting on those days when it's not easy to be an artist:

Dear Nadine,

Thanks for sending the portrait you did of me. It's a terrific painting and I've been getting lots of nice feedback on it. My studio manager says you've really captured my smirk and personality beautifully. Congratulations and enjoy Art Miami.

Sending love,
Audrey

Heading to the Miami art fairs is always fun, but it was extra special this time because I had a large portrait, front and center, of the matriarch of Photorealism. On the fair's last day, a well-known collector purchased the painting, and my gallery installed it in their Miami home the next day.

Although this acquisition was fantastic, It left me with a dilemma on how to get Audrey to see the portrait because she most likely would want to. So I asked my gallery if they thought the collector would be interested in showing it to her, and he responded that they would most likely love to. In the back of my mind, I started planning how to get Audrey to Miami. Do I fly her down to Miami? Can she fly at her age? Who else may want to come? So many exciting questions.

But it wasn't meant to be. Audrey Flack passed away suddenly at the tender age of 93 on June 28, 2024.

I learned about her passing while scrolling on my phone in the backseat of my car coming home from Cape Cod. My husband and son were in the front seats chatting away as I read her long time friend Louis Meisel's Instagram post. I started to cry. How unfair that in the middle of her finally having her way past due moment as a female in the art world, she passed away.

The title of her recent memoir, "With Darkness Came Stars," was filled with stories of joy and sadness that always seemed to happen in parallel. Why would her untimely death be any different?

It strangely makes sense, but it doesn't make it easier to lose an artistic pioneer like Audrey Flack. How could someone I barely knew make me so emotional upon finding out about her death?

Her Instagram profile says, "Artist, Mother, Teacher, Rebel." She personified every one of these words. Upon reflection, I have a few words to describe her that may explain my emotional reaction. Meeting an Artist like Audrey Flack was a dream that I made into a reality because she was generous, accessible, passionate, genuine, candid, inspiring, and witty. She is the rebel I desire to be. I want to use the term in my Instagram profile bio, but it must still be Audrey’s.

Audrey Flack was an artistic superhero on many levels and impacted everyone around her. At the opening of her final show, "With Darkness Came Stars," this past March at the Hollis Taggart Gallery in New York City, the people were a mix of friends, family, and groupies, all buzzing with excitement over the new paintings and telling warm stories about their connection to her. It was magical, and I'm so happy to have been there to experience it. Sadly, her last words were, "I want to see that portrait.”

It was generous of her to make herself accessible so I could paint her portrait. She didn't have to say yes to someone she didn't know but did so because she was Audrey. Her portrait is as sincere a painting as I've ever painted.

I'm honored to have met and painted her portrait. I hope that wherever she is, she is with her late husband, Robert Marcus, painting large canvases of pop rococo superheroes and giving everyone hell. Rest in peace, Audrey.