Give Me Head

James Harris Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition of painting and sculpture titled Give Me Head. The show includes the work of Efrain Almeida, Sarah Awad, Tanya Batura, Travis Collinson, Evan Holloway, Shimon Minamikawa, Mark Mumford, Anders Oinonen, Marjorie Schwartz, Akio Takamori, and Jason Teraoka.

Using the “face” as the focal point, the show is an attempt to describe the unique, specific and conscious approach of each artist as they explore this most basic aspect of what make us human. Using the physical information provided, the objects themselves address the questions of identity, style, composition, gesture and nuance. These works not only tell us much about the subject matter but also more about the acts of their production and each artists’ way of thinking and seeing—the artist’s “face” that they show to us.

Each artist has developed a pictorial language. From realism to abstraction, the artists employ visual cues to illustrate the subject matter. For example, both the painter Shimon Minamikawa and the sculptor Evan Holloway combine loosely rendered faces with an abstract visual language of color and brushwork. The combination imbues these works with atmosphere of alienation. On the other hand, the works of sculptor Efrain Almeida and painter Jason Teraoka are more realistic with the facial features being more emotive, creating an underlying personal psychology.

Populating the gallery with a “crowd” of disembodied heads, we can explore the meaning of our “face” in the contemporary world. Portraiture can be seen as a reflection of history and society; in a modern world of social networks of people we only know online and through their avatar, one questions what is our real “face.”