Julia Weber
Staff Writer
In the upstairs of Strohl Art Center, “Likeness” celebrates portraiture in all its many forms. Curated by Associate Director of CVA Galleries Erika Diamond, “Likeness” is on view through Aug. 19.
The exhibition pays homage to portraiture as an artform, spanning mediums and techniques as artists approach the longstanding subgenre in innovative, experimental ways. From the embroidered photographs created by Beizar Aradini to the needlefelt fiber sculptures created by Nastassja Swift, each artist brings a fresh approach to the field.
For painter Ashley Cecil, “Likeness” is an exhibition that takes a critical look at how we engage with and experience the world.
“I think the title of the exhibition is a lovely prompt to think about the ways that we more loosely, more creatively interpret what ‘likeness’ means and how we see ourselves out in the world,” Cecil said.
Cecil’s ecofeminist paintings reimagine the imagery of flags and symbolic icons in a way that asks the viewer to question if the flags that surround us truly represent all people equally. She said she finds “a lot of striking parallels” between the way society treats women and the planet.
Cecil described her flag portraits as “matriotic,” explaining that she aims to shed light on how flags — often assumed to represent everyone equally — employ many masculine design traits.
“These flags are very male-centric, so that was my contribution to this notion of likeness,” she said. “What we do to symbolize this nation alienates half the population.”
Her background in traditional portraiture later evolved into her current body of work, which she views as a different kind of portraiture. While her paintings on view in the exhibition don’t depict specific individuals, they aim to transcend individuality to start a conversation about their broader context.
“They’re really people that are not anyone in particular, and meant to be relatable in the sense that the context of the objects in the background, the scenes that they’re in, are supposed to elicit some sense that the viewer sees themself in the portrait even though they’re not looking in a mirror,” Cecil said.
Rooted in painting but incorporating other techniques like block printing, silkscreen and the use of textiles, her practice harbors a fondness for the decorative arts. She said she enjoys both the accessibility of fine art in everyday domestic settings and the incorporation of textiles and other domestic patterns and mediums because their traditional associations with femininity inform the concept of her practice.
Taking the medium of fiber in a different direction, Gregory Climer said his experimental quilt portraits draw attention to his experiences as a queer person growing up in the South and questioning what it means to be a gay man in the world.
Coming from a background as a theater costume designer, Climer said he felt attracted to portraiture because it was a logical extension of his work.
Costuming explores “how we adorn the body, how things change our identity, how the stuff we wear gives us confidence, gives us a sense of empowerment, a sense of identity,” he said, and the next step was to explore that through portraiture.
Experimenting with the intersection of fiber art and video, Climer’s “Nathan & Bryan” is actually made up of two pieces of art — an animation and a quilt, demonstrating his ability to push the boundaries of portraiture out into new directions.
For Luis Alvaro Sahagún, art is a form of medicine and healing for himself and those around him.
By combining natural and industrial materials in his work, Sahagún draws attention to the “invisible threats” we are binded by.
“When we are born, we’re born into certain structures in society, whether that’s family traditions, whether that’s your community, the expectations that are placed from your families, your parents, your community,” he said. “We’re all, in certain ways, stamped with certain types of stereotypes, the weight of expectations.”
For Sahagún, the audience is an integral part of the meaning-making experience in his art. In his “Limpia” portrait series, he engages in healing rituals with family members to address familial baggage and generational trauma through art.
“That ritual, in order for it to come full-circle and be completed, the audience needs to come and experience it,” Sahagún said. “It needs to be part of it as well.”
For him, portraiture is an opportunity for “intimacy” and “connection” rather than translating an experience into an image.
“It’s less about trying to make something look real and performing a skill, and it’s more about being intimate with my family and learning what’s weighing heavy in their hearts that they want to release,” Sahagún said.
Also exploring the theme of familial relationships, Beth Lo’s narrative plates are the product of a creative collaboration with her sister. The vessels are illustrations from her sister’s children’s book Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic. For Lo, collaborating with her family is a joyful experience.
“When my mom was alive, she did some Chinese painting, and we did some collaborative work. That was a joy for me,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to share the joy of creation with someone. That’s been a really good thing for me and my sister.”
In her practice, her vessels are simultaneously functional and incredibly vibrant art pieces. Lo said she enjoys the idea of these pieces being incorporated into daily use because it can bring happiness to the user.
“I’ve always loved functionality, and I like daily use. I like the idea that people can live with their artwork in a tactile way and in a useful way that I think can make life more meditative and joyful in daily use,” she said.
In her work, Lo considers what crosses cultural boundaries and brings her lived experience as a member of a minority group in the United States to explore the role of culture in our lives.
“Every artist is making a self-portrait out of their need to express their individuality or their individual vision in their work,” she said. “In my work, in particular, because I’m so interested or fixated on identity and my own personal story, it was a wonderful opportunity to use that guideline to show my practice, to show the ideas that I have.”
Painter Marcus Dunn uses portraiture as a way to explore the notion of community and, specifically, the delineations between self-identity and assigned identity.
Dunn, who is of Tuscarora and non-Native descent, explained the subjects of his portraits are individuals who shared Indigenous community, culture and customs, but were not officially recognized by the government as being Indigenous.
For him, portraiture provides an opportunity to see past the archival photographs.
“One thing I want people to look at when they see these paintings is they’re not photographs, so they’re still somewhat abstracted, but I want people to look at these as ‘These are Indigenous people who were not recognized,’ ” he said.
The individuals he portrays in the works displayed in “Likeness” are people from his hometown and community. Dunn said these paintings are a way to bring attention to the overarching narrative through the use of visual storytelling.
“It’s almost like looking through a family photo album,” Dunn said. “When you’re doing representational painting, it’s something that draws people into a larger narrative. When you decide to paint something that’s coming from a photograph, it’s a way of extending it to visual storytelling.”
For Dunn, portraiture offers a window into the lives of his subjects, so viewers may consider what their experiences were.
“You not only see these faces,” Dunn said, “but you also think about what kind of lives they might have lived.”
