Grava Gallery features Flux designer AndreSaint-Louis. His exhibition “Pieces” displays 17 oil panel paintings portrayingfractured and fragmented human faces resembling jigsaw pieces that createangular sculptural portraits.
Subtly jarring, the portraits’ textures in strandsof hair, reflections in eyeglasses or twinkles in eyes offer only a sliver ofthe entire face. A cheek, chin or ear may be missing, alluding to thoseconcealed personality traits that remain unknown when looking directly intosomeone’s face. What hidden emotions or thoughts lurk behind raised eyebrows orpursed lips, especially when the complete picture is missing?
Every portrait displays a unique expression whereSaint-Louis’ facial puzzles only partially unveil these familiar people whoinhabit his life. His large-scale self-portrait Self Exposed Snippet composes the artist through a monochromaticface study with a deeply shadowedforehead and complex colored eyes. The eyes might capture the soul, but each ofthese intriguing personal paintings raises more questions about the personasthey depict. This inviting exhibition, which runs through June 5, explores themystery rather than revelation in portraiture.
The exhibition “Big Star” at the fifth floor’sPortrait Society Gallery exposes “the big celebrity.” New York printmaker Carri Skoczek showcaseslino cuts that represent her personal muses. The contrasting black and whiteprints delineated by bold lines accentuate each face’s prominence, whichheightens the dramatic effect to Georgia O’Keefe, Louise Nevelson and IrisApfel.
Many of the 15 individuals on view through May 31came into success late in life, and their linear facial features illustrateangst conveyed as the German Expressionists, especially Kathe Kollwitz,emphasized in her work. Skoczek connects the internal turmoil experienced bythese eccentric personalities to their intimate portraits.
In Gallery B, Fred Bell’s diminutive paintingsdisplay authors through evocative yet sympathetic faces that include CarsonMcCullers, Sylvia Plath and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Bell’s sensitive handling of the oil pigmentdelivers a breath of life and introspection to this renowned literarycollection. Within these few floors of the Marshall Building,three artists reinterpret the portrait through diverse psychologicalperspectives.
