John Hardy paints narrative scenes of contemporary life often populated with solitary figures, works that the artist considers psychological portraits of isolation and loneliness. Self-taught, Hardy considers himself “fundamentally a formalist,” though he formerly painted in the style of Abstract Expressionism. In 1975, upon moving to New York, his interest shifted to depicting scenes of everyday life—or what he calls “phases and stages” of people in the city. Hardy now paints in a representational style, though he purposely distorts proportions and perspective so that figures and objects seem to float above their backgrounds.