BYRON BUCHANAN
Byron Buchanan brings a contemporary perspective to portraiture, wildlife, and the American West. Working across painting, drawing, and mixed media, he draws on historical imagery and classical influences to explore the character and stories of his subjects.
Buchanan’s talent for drawing was recognized in high school, where he won first place in an art competition and was invited to teach drawing in his school’s art class. Returning to art at age 31, he began painting and soon received portrait commissions. Self-taught, he developed his practice through studying the work of Rembrandt, Velázquez, John Singer Sargent, and Caravaggio, as well as tonalist painters and pictorialist photographers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Early in his career, Buchanan focused on portraits of Hollywood icons. After moving to the Northwest, he renewed his connection to American history and the outdoors. Historical biographies, vintage photographs, and a lifelong love of horses continue to inform his work. Whether depicting a historical figure or an animal, he approaches each subject as an individual with a distinct presence and story.
His broader practice includes mixed-media work created under the name “Buck,” combining acrylic, collage, airbrush, and digital painting. These layered compositions connect his interest in Western imagery with his background in pop art.
His work is also included in The Creative Ones, a collection of more than forty large-scale mixed-media portraits commissioned for International House in New Orleans.
