Vito Acconci
Giovanni Anselmo
Joseph Beuys
Slater Bradley
Alighiero Boetti
PierPaolo Calzolari
Julia Margaret Cameron
Daniela Comani
Benjamin Cottam
Ann Craven
Robert Crumb
Pamela Davis-Kivelson
Giuliano della Casa
Phil An Derer
Jennie Dubneau
Arturo Elizondo
John Gibson
Dan Graham
John Grande
Jitka Hanzlova'
David Humphrey
Alfredo Jaar
Alex Katz
Thorsten Kirchhoff
Franz Kline
Joyce Korotkin
Carter Kustera
Ketty La Rocca
Matvey Levenstein
Philip-Lorca diCorcia
Robert Mapplethorpe
Matt Marello
Amedeo Martegani
Juan Matos Capote
Randy Moore
Nzingah Muhammad
Ugo Mulas
Paolo Mussat Sartor
Luigi Ontani
Dennis Oppenheim
Meret Oppenheim
Giulio Paolini
Maurizio Pellegrin
Paolo Pellion
Giuseppe Penone
Federico Pietrella
Barbara Pollack
Florio Puenter
Carol Rama
Giada Ripa di Meana
Hanneline Rogeberg
Junya Sato
Salvatore Scarpitta
Salvo
Floria Sigismondi
Francesco Simeti
Ena Swansea
Jim Torok
Mark Turgeon
Not Vital
Roger Welch
The exhibition includes portraits by more then 50 different artists, different histories, backgrounds, ideas and media. Investigating how this very traditional theme gets re-interpreted in contemporary art, we've put together these differences to show how a practice that is the first, most debated and common, in art history has changed over time.
Jennifer and Filippo Fossati are pleased to announce the opening at Esso Gallery of the group show 'Portraits'.
The exhibition includes portraits by more then 50 different artists, different histories, backgrounds, ideas and media. Investigating how this very traditional theme gets re-interpreted in contemporary art, we've put together these differences to show how a practice that is the first, most debated and common, in art history has changed over time.
Portraiture began a very long time ago to satisfy the necessity of delivering to posterity the physical appearances of the dead (the earliest forms known to us are in fact the clay, wax or metal masks directly traced from dead faces). The Romans were already using portraits as an instrument of propaganda. The figures of philosophers or emperors posed in hieratic and solemn forms had not just the intention of immortalizing the appearance of that person, but also to idealize the human, psychological and moral image for that person to leave behind. From then on the meaning of the portrait has changed according to the patron or the artist's ideas and the issue would be too long of a discussion for a press release.
The portraits shown here belong to different classes, the referent for some is sentimental or idealist and they result charged with tension because their subjects belong to live experience, to emotion. The more interesting to us are the ones born from a meeting between impression and idea, between visual suggestion and intellectual approach.
The exhibition features works by: Vito Acconci, Giovanni Anselmo, Joseph Beuys, Slater Bradley, Alighiero Boetti, PierPaolo Calzolari, Julia Margaret Cameron, Daniela Comani, Benjamin Cottam, Ann Craven, Robert Crumb, Pamela Davis-Kivelson, Giuliano della Casa, Phil An Derer, Jennie Dubneau, Arturo Elizondo, John Gibson, Dan Graham, John Grande, Jitka Hanzlova', David Humphrey, Alfredo Jaar, Alex Katz, Thorsten Kirchhoff, Franz Kline, Joyce Korotkin, Carter Kustera, Ketty La Rocca, Matvey Levenstein, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Robert Mapplethorpe, Matt Marello, Amedeo Martegani, Juan Matos Capote, Randy Moore, Nzingah Muhammad, Ugo Mulas, Paolo Mussat Sartor, Luigi Ontani, Dennis Oppenheim, Meret Oppenheim, Giulio Paolini, Maurizio Pellegrin, Paolo Pellion, Giuseppe Penone, Federico Pietrella, Barbara Pollack, Florio Puenter, Carol Rama, Giada Ripa di Meana, Hanneline Rogeberg, Junya Sato, Salvatore Scarpitta, Floria Sigismondi, Francesco Simeti, Ena Swansea, Jim Torok, Mark Turgeon, Not Vital, Roger Welch.
Image: Giulio Paolini Locus Solus, 1975
Opening Friday, June 4, 2004 from 6 to 8 p.m. (See attached Press Release)
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Summer Hours: (from June 15) Tuesday - Friday, 1 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Esso Gallery 531 West 26th Street, New York NY 10001