Today’s topic is the art of portraiture. Who are we showing, what is communicated, what is the context for the image and how do the faces and the background work together? Here are some examples of the contemporary art of portraiture now in Philadelphia.
O’Neil Scott is one of the great young painters based in Philadelphia. This lovely, disarmingly simple and powerful painting was found at Arch Enemy Arts. In this work we are connecting with the exterior of the subject… the juxtaposition of the Dutch classic collar, a radiant face with a backward baseball cap, and the scruffy and elegant ‘white washed’ back wall. At the same time we are on the interior…what this man sees and has seen. The genius is how all of that is brought together with so many layers of meaning.Speaking of juxtapositions! Here, Enrique Toledo’s subject gives us the direct stare, challenging the viewer and culture at large with another work found at Arch Enemy Arts. Here is woman as a warrior suited for battle; completely modern but realized within the medieval landscape with classical detail and aerial perspective. The angel warrior is falling or flying upside down but with a sword pointed up to challenge and protect. Twelve Gates’s Remnants of Another, exhibition curated by Suzanne Persard, brings together artists united by a common heritage of Indo-Caribbean indentured servitude. The work speaks to themes of preserved and merging cultural identity with an emphasis on dignity in the face of dislocation and hardship. Here, Nazrina Rodjan reinterprets a photographic image…sisters emboldened with confidence and haloed by a sun-like golden circle. Another image from the Twelve Gates show, brought to us by Nicholas D’Ornellas. Departing from his woven images, this warm and endearing screen print feels intimate and loving. It gives us the soft glow of memory and family but reminds us this is only that…not real now, but held in our hearts. Nicholas’ woven works play with the same devices…the craft and meaning of weaving, ambiguity and memory.
The Current 
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