Paintings, Storytelling, and Video
During his Project 14C residency in the spring of 2026, artist Ben Fine teamed up with journalist Tris McCall to expand the Pink Armchair Portraits through conversation and video. Participants were interviewed and painted simultaneously, creating portraits in both words and images.
Presented in separate spaces, the paintings and interviews formed a growing archive of faces, voices, creative practices, and personal histories. The project seeks to foster connection by inviting viewers to recognize aspects of their own experiences in the lives of others.
A Living Archive
Supported in part by a 2026 fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the series continues to evolve as an ongoing exploration of identity, community, and the shared human experience.
The Pink Armchair Portraits was shown to the public in early May of 2026 at Project 14C, a creative incubator and experimental studio complex in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District. Interviews and sittings were conducted at Project 14C.
Residency
Who are we ?
Ben Fine
ArtistBen Fine is the co-founder of Studio Iodyne, an acclaimed Brooklyn animation studio, and multidisciplinary artist who has shown his work all over the globe. His Pink Armchair Portraits series of paintings captures friends, family, and strangers in interconnected compositions exploring individuality and collective presence.
Tris McCall is an experienced interviewer who has fashioned conversations with politicians, community organizers, showrunners, and other decision makers into articles that make the priorities and motivations of his subjects manifest for readers.
Eye Level, his website dedicated to the examination of Jersey City visual arts, is funded by an Andy Warhol Arts Writers Grant.
JournalistTris McCall
Would you like to participate?
Each portrait session will last approximately 1.5 hours
We are looking for storytellers and communicators