Nuda Veritas

Kelly Oakes is a classically-trained portrait painter based in Hillsborough, North Carolina. She graduated from The Maryland Institute College of Art, attended The Parsons School of Design, and has recently studied at The Art Students league under Sharon Sprung.

Kelly has been painting figures and portraits since 2010 and is driven to show each subject with profound respect and reverence of their place in this world, often through strength and resilience.

Her work is incredibly sensitive, seeking to tell stories through her paintings and capture the soul of her subject. She works mostly in oil paints, striving to capture the realism and emotion of the moment.

Her work is often done from life, in her studio, and she enjoys recruiting her friends as models for her paintings. She has a deep passion for capturing her subject’s most intimate moments and stories in her paintings, in a way she feels no other medium can.

Kelly hopes that through her work, viewers can experience something new, see the world through a different lens, and come away with a better sense of empathy.