PRESS
RELEASE
FACE 08
34Long Fine Art presents Face 08 at 19h00 on Tuesday 12 August 2008.
The show reveals a conceptual understanding of portraiture as a class of artistic production capable of far deeper sensibility and insightful nuance than mere depiction of familiar faces or representation of familiar environments. Artists from around the world interpret faces and bodies as socio-political narratives transcending physical appearance and personal identity. The faces they face are those of contemporary humanity.
Highlights include:
Eight portraits by Hiroyuki Matsuura (1964 – ). A member of the Murakami-inspired new generation of Japanese artists, Matsuura takes the concept of superflat to new levels. His work reveals consummate design background but goes beyond mere surface by perceptively converting images of traditional figures like samurais and geishas into digital role models. Aggressive cropping almost physically draws the onlooker into the pictorial space, compelling him or her to create a personal contextual narrative for the images. The eight portraits were conceived as a series entitled the Blister Collection, but feature as individual works on this exhibition.
A rare 2001 silkscreen print from an edition of forty by Yue Minjun (1962 – ), one of the world’s most expensive contemporary Chinese artists. Minjun is famed for his cynical laughing self portraits and his seemingly effortless reduction of contemporary socio-political reality to absurdly familiar symbols. Minjun has commented that he depicts irrational power employing intimidation, violence and terror to engineer human actions.
A new work by South African artist Asha Zero (1975 – ), who is preparing for a solo exhibition at London’s renowned Black Rat Gallery in October 2009.
Fog of War 2006, a suite of five prints from an edition of eighty by Marlene Dumas ( 1953 – ), the world’s most expensive living woman artist. This body of work, shown in the National Gallery in Cape Town and at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg last year, has gained legendary status in the international collector’s market, and forms part of her current museum shows.
Face 08 also includes a 2004 Dumas lithograph from an edition of 100.
An acrylic painting entitled AK-47 by Zhang Dali (1963 – ) from a series of portraits of Chinese migrant workers. Zhang’s work has not been shown in South Africa before. Living on the outskirts of Beijing, Zhang Dali is familiar with the awkward phenomenon of migrant workers as a product of rapid urbanization in China. In his hands, displacement becomes a blazing portrait leaving the viewer with a bitter taste of alienation and exploitation.
Two surprising works by London street artist D*Face. 34 Long Fine Art is planning a show of urban street art later this year and has a proposed solo exhibition by D*Face scheduled for 2009. The streets are penetrating galleries and museums worldwide. Like the Tate Modern, 34 Long happily allows its walls to be usurped by this exciting genre.
Beside these highlights, work by stalwarts like William Kentridge, Norman Catherine, Paul du Toit, Colin Payne, Takashi Murakami and Mr. complete the show.
