THE HUMAN FORM
list of artworks
The Human Form brings together a diverse group of contemporary figurative artists who focus on both direct and oblique references to the body in their work.
Figures are depicted in varying states of totality and fragmentation, in every day scenes of motion and rest, flattened out like wall paper, turned back on themselves in multiplicity, turned into playful monstrous beings, sexualized and constructed in three dimensional urban environments reflecting on moments of pause (waiting for a subway train).
Seemingly conventional portraiture and contemporary notions of what a portrait in 2017 should resemble are examined in this exhibition. Scale and form are consistently thrown back on themselves: lips, noses and eyes are blown up, re-contextualized, pasted around the face like stickers, or march merrily along as little emojis.
Pain, angst, loneliness are sensitively articulated in both bold, direct mark making, but also built up and emphasized through ethereal accumulations of line and gesture. Equally represented, are depictions of desire, lust, love and sexual fulfillment. For example, a piece gives central attention to the flick and glistening texture of the female tongue.
Curated by Michael Holden and Peter Schenck. Exhibited artists: Bryan de Roo, Sean Downey, Hilary Doyle, Craig Drennen, Anna Ehrsam, Austin Furtak-Cole, Michael Holden, Hein Koh, John Mulvaney, and Peter Schenck.
