Portrait: Identity & Expression
Jan 31, 2020 – Feb 29, 2020
Sonnie Kozlover, “Interior 3”
Portraiture puts pressure on the distinction between the personal and the social. It strives to capture both the essence and contradictions of its subject but also marks out the surrounding social world. The posture, objects, dress, facial expressions, possessions are personal, often intimate disclosures, possessing the power to evoke memory, histories of love, violence, and family. Many works challenge, modify, and problematize the visual systems in which they are embedded, asking fundamental questions regarding power, beauty, and visibility. The artists in this show experiment and intermingle form and content, presentation and subject, approaching their practice with both figurative, abstract, and conceptual notions of identity. As the juror Claire Voon noted, “Many works are figurative and focus on an individual sitter—elevating them, in other words, to heroic status. Others more abstractly reflect notions of identity. Artists’ choices of media can also emphasize intention.” By combining the historical and the everyday, these artists present the struggles and triumphs of portrait and identity in new and compelling ways.
About the Juror:
Claire Voon is a freelance arts journalist and critic who lives in Chicago. Her writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times, ARTnews,The Art Newspaper, Artsy, New York magazine, and Garage. She was formerly an assistant editor at Chicago Magazine and a staff writer at Hyperallergic.
Artists:
Robin Adsit, Tanner Blackwell, Amy Bravo, Mei Fung, Elizabeth Chan, Vincent Chong, Ann Marie Curley, Emilia da Silveira, Matilda Forsberg, Rebecca Frantz, Isabelle Gautier, Nasrin Iravani, Melissa Joseph, Sonnie Kozlover, Krista LaBella, Caroline Liu, Michael Mahsa Merci, Addie Kae Mingilton, Courtney Minor, Catrin Perih, Monika Plioplyte, Ziba Rajabi, Timo Rissanen, Becky Slemmons, Michael Valiquette, Rachael Warner, Yunqi Yang