Face to Face

What does the portrait still have to offer in the digital age? Starting from this question the exhibition Face to Face will present the diversified possibilities that embody the concept of a portrait today. Carefully placed «face to face», the juxtapositions among the works of the different artists included in the exhibition, create a dialogue between the various works and underline the expressiveness of each in its singularity. Not only does the diversity of the genre become apparent, moreover it itself becomes the mode of self- contemplation for artist and viewer alike.

Portraiture has always served as an aide to remembrance beyond the present, enduring even death itself. Since the beginning of time mankind’s longing for the effigy has been apparent, at times even infused by a belief in the spiritualism and magic such an image can convey. While detail and meticulousness were once of great importance for the sake of recognition, these core characteristics of the genre became increasingly obsolete with the invention of photography in the beginning of the 19th Century. Being overruled in terms of exactness, and while simultaneously the medium itself undergoes turmoil’s of change painting increasingly relied on its own devices and strengths. At once the focus shifted to portraying a being by way of painterly expression.

History aside, the key attribute of a portrait remains creating a copy of some sort, even if abstraction or surrealist forms are applied. While the connection for some sort of truth or reality remains the defining starting point for the viewer, it is however the mode of depiction chosen that has an authoritative effect on the work in progress: the artist now, through choice of material, stroke and form, defines what is to be painted.