About Face
Bedford Gallery
Lesher Center for the Arts
Walnut Creek (US)
April 15 – June 25, 2023
Participating artists: Donna Anderson Kam, Charles Antolin, Claire Astrow, Tamera Avery, Brandin Barón, Linda Belden, Angelique Benicio, Ashlie Benton, Robin L. Bernstein, Kim Brewer, Dennis Brown, Donna Brown, Jamie Burnside, Dottie Lo Bue, Carolina Caples, John Casey, Jane Cavala, Bora Choi, Susan Cole, Travis Collinson, Linda Craighead, Nimisha Doongarwal, Dance Doyle, Cheryl Drake, Katie Drum, Azma Elham, Beth Fein, Jane Fisher, Lisa Franklin, Carlos Gamez de Francisco, Bushra Gill, Carla Golder, Elizabeth Gorek, Julie Grantz, Jo Hamilton, Monica Haro, Judy Hirabayashi, Russell Houlston, Lisa Jetonne, Kacy Jung, Soad Kader, Mary Kalin-Casey, Sherry Karver, Rebecca Keyes, TaVee McAllister Lee, Alma Leppla, JoAnn Lieberman, Jackie Liu, Madison Lloyd, Jennifer Lugris, Peggy Magovern, Marbie, James Woods Marshall, Katie McCann, Lisa McElroy, Derra McWilliams, Mary Mocas, Johansen Newman, Tracy Nickolaus, Daisy Patton, Vivian Patton, Burt Peng, Joel Daniel Phillips, Jude Pittman, Roz Ritter, Mary Lou Grace Robison, David Rothman, Bill Samios, Victor Sanchez, Pallavi Sharma, Barbara Silverman, Ema H. Sintamarian, Robynn Smith, Tony Speirs, Marnie Spencer, Julianne Sterling, Wolfgang Stiller, Melissa Stone, Ariel Strong, Jessamyn Sweet, Jonathan Valdivias, Brian Van Camerik, David Van Ness, Nicolas Vionnet, Chiachen Wang, Andy Warhol, John Watson, Lin Wei, Ji Seon Yoon, Linda Yoshizawa, Dianne Yudelson
Juried and curated by Zoë Latzer (Associate Curator and Director of Public Programs, ICA San Jose) and David Reyes (Curator of exhibitions and Collections, Huntsville Museum of Art), Bedford Gallery
Photography: Shaun Roberts
Bedford Gallery presents About Face, an exhibition that explores the tradition of portraiture through a contemporary lens. The show features nearly 100 local, national and international artists and examines how current societal values such as beauty, power, and cultural significance may be perceived by future generations. The exhibition runs from April 15 through June 25, 2023.
The artists in About Face challenge traditional portraiture with current concepts, perspectives and media that reflect the individual. Some, like Dennis Brown, focus on underrepresented BIPOC bodies, while others, like Andy Warhol, use unconventional media, such as 4-minute film portraits called Screen Tests. The artists also break compositional norms, as seen in Marbie's painting Every Time, which depicts the full human form using brightly colored shapes. Despite their different intentions, the artists in About Face share a common goal of reexamining the age-old tradition of portraiture in present-day contexts.