About Face: Contemporary Portrait Painting

"Portraiture is like an alchemy of the physical and the intangible into painted materiality." -- Yvette Coppersmith

A portrait is no longer expected to be a realistic rendering of a person--artists experiment with numerous techniques, even approaching abstraction, to convey the personality and character of their subjects. About Face explores the rich diversity of contemporary portraiture via the diverse practices of thirty-nine portrait painters--in the process unveiling a vibrant part of the art world informed by a rich history. Many of these artists use their portraiture to engage with social, political, or environmental issues or to convey a narrative, and the complexity of the human experience; others are simply fascinated by human faces.

Whatever the artist's motivation, every work makes clear that portraiture has always been a powerful means of telling stories and exploring our individual and collective identities.