What's in a face? In a standard portrait, the face is the focal point of the image, central to the composition. The works in this collection, however, take a different approach, featuring artists who depict their subjects without showing their faces—forcing the viewer to take notice of what else the body has to offer. While works by Jamie Baldridge, Bill Viola, and Klara Kristaleva intentionally obscure the faces of the people portrayed, lending them a surrealistic feel, others—such as those by Jen DeNike and Diane Wah—capture their subjects from behind. Finally, artists such as John Cohen and David Levinthal represent individuals solely through fragments of the body. Introducing a new perspective on portraiture, these artists reveal the personality of their subjects without recourse to their facial expressions, expanding the definition of the genre.
Faceless Portraits
Curator: Amanda Bass and Samantha Michel
Profession: Artspace Interns
About The Curator
About Amanda Bass and Samantha Michel
As Amanda and Samantha interned at Artspace this summer, they were inspired by the works they grew accustomed to seeing every day and thus created several collections for the site. Amanda is majoring in Art History at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and Samantha is majoring in Media Studies with an emphasis in film at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. Both native New Yorkers, the two grew up going to the world's best art museums and have developed an instinct for recognizing works that relate both visually and thematically. In creating their collections, the curators drew upon human nature, humor, and the inner-child, thus curating collections that told a story and contextualized works in a new and unique way to reveal a new side to each artwork.
About The Collection
About Faceless Portraits
Artworks in Faceless Portraits
