Natasha Beaudoin

Natasha Beaudoin

Refracted Realities: Painting Gen Z in the Digital Age

My work explores how digital culture is reshaping portraiture. Drawing from Old Masters like Caravaggio and modern influences like Instagram filters, I blend traditional painting techniques with screen-based aesthetics to reflect how Generation Z navigates identity. I call this hybrid style Techno Tenebrism: a dramatic play of light inspired not by candlelight, but by the glow of phones and laptops. My work often begins with pixelated, candid photos of my friends, which I then transform, edit and distort into highly crafted portraits. One way I maintain genuine connections with my close friends is by playing online games together. Unlike texting, which can feel disjointed or isolating, these shared virtual spaces feel like real hangouts. That experience fuels my work’s core tension between presence and absence, connection and isolation, tradition and technology. Ultimately, my thesis paints a portrait of modern relationships—and how they rely on digital tools to feel real.

Natasha Beaudoin
MFA candidate, Visual Arts
Faculty of Arts & Humanities - Western University

Supervisor
Kelly Wood

Natasha Beaudoin (she/her) is a portrait artist and MFA candidate at Western University whose practice explores the intersection of classical painting techniques and contemporary digital culture. Rooted in the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio, her work fuses historical tenebrism with the artificial glow of screens and the visual language of modern photography. Through the manipulation of digital imagery into traditional media, Beaudoin investigates themes of online identity, self-representation, and the evolving aesthetics of Generation Z. Her paintings reimagine portraiture through screen-sourced compositions, painterly distortions, and saturated colour palettes. Influenced by artists such as Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, and Jen Mann, Beaudoin incorporates elements of “deep-fried” digital aesthetics and colour oversaturation to evoke the tension between authenticity and performance, presence and absence in digitally mediated relationships. Beaudoin holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) in Painting and Printmaking from Queen’s University, along with a Graduate Diploma in Arts Management. She has exhibited her work in galleries and juried competitions across Canada. Recent recognition includes First Place in the Next Generation Artist competition (2023), a Creative Residency with Visual Arts Mississauga, and Best in Show at the 2025 Neuroscience Research Day at Museum London.

You can connect with Natasha via her Instagram, LinkedIn, or email.

View Natasha's work as it appears in the Inspiring Minds Digital Collection.