Artwork / Friend Request

portrait painting by queer artist Gwenn Seemel pet portrait painting by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel laughing portrait by New Jersey artist Gwenn Seemel mother and kid portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel black dog portrait and a white one too by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Lou Tobok portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel schnauzer portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Vince Hawley Lambertville art, portrait by New Jersey artist Gwenn Seemel fluffy kitty portrait and grey cat portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Scot Nourok portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel poodle portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Lambertville artist Eleanor Voorhees portrait by Gwenn Seemel dog portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Kelly Sullivan painting, Lambertville art by Gwenn Seemel Jen Fritch portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel cookies-and-cream colored dog portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel portrait of a smiling man with white hair and a white beard by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel secret smile portrait, acrylic painting by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel dog portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel portraits of SiriOm Singh and Ayala Shimelman by New Jersey painter Gwenn Seemel Carolyn Gadbois portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel beautiful woman portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel dark brown cat portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Sue Begent portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel black dog portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel portrait by nonbinary artist Gwenn Seemel amazing portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Jess Villars and Cord Schlobohm portraits by Lambertville painter Gwenn Seemel ginger cat, tortoise shell cat, and black cat, portraits by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel portrait by New Jersey artist Gwenn Seemel Mayor Andrew Nowick portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel pet portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel smiling portrait by New Jersey artist Gwenn Seemel tuxedo cat painting by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Bucks County art Hope Gaburo, painting by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel corgi painting by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel Lambertville art portrait by Gwenn Seemel portrait of a dear person by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel two dog portraits by New Jersey artist Gwenn Seemel Lia Nielsen portrait by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel two Belgian workhorse portraits and one pony painting by horse artist Gwenn Seemel ceramic artist Winifred Weiss, portrait painted by Lambertville artist Gwenn Seemel

At the click of a button you can friend just about anybody in the world, but fully befriending them is another story. It usually entails showing your new confidant again and again that you can be trusted, and, in my case, it often also involves the unusually social medium of painted portraiture, like with the 53 artworks shown here.

Soon after I moved to Lambertville in the spring of 2022, these faces made me feel like I was in the right place. Each of these animals—both the human and the nonhuman—brought me out of a kind of social stasis that had been induced, in part, by COVID, but also by the six years I’d spent living in a conservative community where very few people shared my values.

Here in the LBV, as I like to call LamBertVille, there are nylon rainbows waving from every other house and neighbors smile to acknowledge they’ve seen me around. They help me remember what it’s like to feel safe, not just in my home, but in my town—and not just in my body, but in my spirit. These 53 creatures gave me permission to try to understand how their outsides and their insides reflect each other. They trusted me with their faces and their stories, and I trusted them to see their portraits as not just a simple likeness, but instead as a depiction of the space between us.

The act of befriending—whether it’s online, IRL, or in the social medium—is never over. We’re always re-requesting friendship, repainting our confidants in the mind’s eye as we notice new layers of their personalities. And from the deep kindness of my new home, I’m a better forever-befriender to all the people I care about, in Lambertville and beyond.

video by NJ.com reporter Andre Malok

The NJ.com video reporter Andre Malok made this lovely piece about Friend Request, which was exhibited in the fall of 2022 in Winifred Weiss’ studio window in Lambertville, New Jersey.