ABOUT FACE

7/27–8/27, 2023
International Group Show
Juried by Michelle May and Payal Thiffault

SoWa First Friday Art Walk: August 4, 2023 | 5:00–8:00PM

CURATORIAL STATEMENT | Juniper Rag

Subjectivity is supreme in the professional world we live in. Our world as artists, marketers and promoters of art is one of image-making, creative editing and trend forecasting. With an overwhelming submission response to “About Face”, our immediate reactions and intuitive convictions, combined with the close study of artist statements dictate the results. Selecting art allows us to profoundly express personal preferences and strong aversions. In many cases, the strongest artist statements ultimately informed our final choices between the art we loved visually and art that resonated with the call. This emotional quotient started revealing itself immediately to us as we learned about the work and the artists. The visual stories selected are executed expertly, the descriptions of materials and processes were accurately described, and intentional statements were thoughtfully written.

“About Face” is a prestigious visual narrative that emerged out of five rounds of viewing and study. The collection dares to explore many varied ways this group of contemporary artists has represented identity in a cultural construct, existence in a litany of an unjust world, pain, loss and also as a celebration of self and empowerment. The show title references the “face”, and what we found in this selection of interpretations had to be a deep and resolute story of the human condition. While there is a continued relevance of portraiture in this collection, we reach beyond to connect on a mission-driven level. “Let your voice be heard” suggests personal intimacy and confrontation, cultural, political and personal engagement. The works submitted, many of which were large-scale and not all representational, brought us through channels of discovering the best that fit this narrative. We selected 6.8% of the 691, including different painting mediums, photography, sculpture, assemblage, textiles and groupings of small pieces which increased our goal number of just 30 works (4.25%) to 47 total pieces. Selection for this call was extremely difficult and competitive.

Included are mesmerizing self-portraits over time like Wishful Thinking by Jackie Liu, to depictions of family and people of the past, the works convey a range of hopes and aspirations, preoccupations and fears, and distinctive world views in critical, unvarnished and creative ways. Maybe She Went Out For a Walk? by Nathaniel Massari was riveting and a poignant illustration that begs so many questions. Death in Consumerism and The Erasure of the Natural by Dana Al Rashid provide absolute surprise, allowing the viewer to envision an ethnic tapestry in the distance and a symmetrical visual reminiscent of the formula of the tableaux of Wes Anderson as you approach, realizing the depictions are distinctively pop culture. Amplifying plurality and difference, the artwork does not reveal itself too easily and lays bare the complexity of historically marginalized communities and people facing personal, cultural and community challenges.

Historically, artists have been the voices of humanity and this show is an example and by viewing it we have the opportunity to know each other better. The power of “About Face” proposes that the multiplicity found in this exhibition is the face of the world that confronts us every day, emotional and vulnerable, telling a universal story of an experience that unites us.

There are so many honorable artists that we could not select do to space and with regret, could not include them. Congratulations to all the artists that succeeded for About Face. You are to be congratulated.