Who

Peyton's impressionistic paintings of celebrities captured the spirit of the 1990s.

Backstory

Raised in Connecticut, Peyton grew up drawing—a slightly difficult task given that she was born with only two fingers on her right hand. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in 1987, she had a small solo show at the Althea Viafora Gallery in SoHo. But success didn't strike overnight: Peyton labored for years in series of mundane day jobs, first as an assistant to the artist Ronald Jones, then as a photo researcher. In 1993, she teamed up with gallerist Gavin Brown to show a set of her drawings—including depictions of Napoleon and Oscar Wilde—in Room 828 of the Chelsea Hotel. (People were invited to see the show at any time by simply asking the front desk for the room key.) She made even more of a splash a few years later when she exhibited a series of paintings of Kurt Cobain at Brown's gallery. By the mid-1990s, with critics like Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith in her corner, she'd become an art star.

Of note

Peyton works from both photos and live models and is known for her "disarmingly intimate paintings of wayward beauties." Her subjects have included Noel and Liam Gallagher, Sid Vicious, Jarvis Cocker, Chloe Sevigny, Prince Harry, Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas, Eminem, and Benicio del Toro. (She doesn't accept commissions, though, so if you were looking to spend millions to have Peyton paint your portrait, look elsewhere.) Her work has commanded increasingly large sums: In 2005, her portrait of John Lennon sold at auction for $800,000. Collectors of Peyton's work include Marc Jacobs (who's also the subject of several of her portraits) and Peter Brant.

Personal

Peyton was briefly married to Argentine-Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. (She says they married partly so he could get his Green Card.) She now lives with her longtime boyfriend, artist Tony Just. For years, Peyton and Just lived and worked in Orient, NY. In early 2006, the two purchased a small townhouse on Commerce Street in the West Village for $3.8 million.