"The Woman" is a vibrant, joyful acrylic painting on canvas that embraces a playful, modernist portrait style—strongly reminiscent of Picasso's bold color divisions and simplified forms, but infused with a sunnier, more exuberant personality. The central figure is a frontal bust-length portrait of a woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat, rendered in thick, confident brushstrokes that give the work a lively, almost sculptural texture.
Graham builds the image from broad, saturated color fields that lock the portrait into immediate focus: a hot magenta hat, turquoise and green facial planes, and a burnt orange-brown ground that radiates around the figure. The surface carries visible acrylic handling, with thick, directional brushstrokes and layered passages that give the head and hat a hand-modeled, almost relief-like presence. Black contour lines sharpen the simplified forms and organize the composition into flat, graphic zones, placing the work in conversation with Picasso’s fractured portraiture, modernist primitivism, and the expressive clarity of postwar figuration. The frontal bust-length pose and centered symmetry make the image feel direct and self-possessed, while the joyful palette turns the portrait into an emblem of vitality rather than solemnity.
SGT Ben Graham, based in 1731 Fontana Lane, creates original artwork available to collect on Art Emerge, an AI-powered marketplace for artists and collectors.
Key Facts
Location: 1731 Fontana Lane
I am a Wounded Veteran, 46 with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor among many other awards and decorations. I've seven tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, until I was shot and received 2 Brain Injuries from Roadside bombs in an attack. I went to school for Art and its my Passion. This was before and finished some when I was deployed online, which was not easy when it comes to art. I am Married to my Lovely Wife Lori and my 12 year old Ninja and Smart Daughter. We are definitely a Tripod.
Artist Statement
Artist Statement My name is SGT Ben Graham, and every piece you see here is more than just art — it is a living thank-you and a way for me to give back. As a wounded veteran, I create because it keeps me moving, focused, and connected when my disabilities try to hold me back. The true price of my work is not for profit. What you pay is a donation. That donation first covers the cost of the supplies I need to keep creating.
