about the site

I’m that person in the museum who always gets told to step back away from art, so I decided to take action and created a space where we can put our noses right up to those masterpieces of the past and present—without actually touching them, of course.

Painted Biographies offers a place for close looking, focusing on what artists were actually doing, who they were learning from, and what was happening in their world when they picked up their brush (or chisel, camera, clay… you get the idea). Revisit the great artists you know in a new light and discover the contemporary names that continue to push art in unexpected directions — from Renaissance masters to modern revolutionaries, from European museums to LA exhibitions. You’ll find blogs, reviews, timelines, and podcasts (coming soon!) that dig into the real stories behind the masterpieces — falling down the rabbit hole and taking you with them. 

Let’s sneak under the velvet ropes and leave the gatekeepers behind.
No pretense. No jargon. Just great art.

about the author

Molly Enholm Velazco is a Los Angeles-based contemporary artist, writer, and educator. She teaches Modern, Contemporary, and Global art history and theory at CSU Northridge, Moorpark College, and Laguna College of Art + Design, encouraging students to see connections between art’s past and present.

Her writing has appeared in publications such as Fabrik, ArtScene, Hi-Fructose, The Art Story, Art + Cake, Visual Art Source, and nearly a decade as managing editor at art ltd. In addition to showing her own work, she recently curated “Solace/Sublime” at Angels Gate Cultural Center, an exhibition exploring the sanctuary of the natural environment as expressed in contemporary art.

See more: mollyenholm.com