Almine Rech Shanghai is pleased to present a group exhibition, Painting Someone. The exhibition will be on view from November 6 to December 26, 2020.
Painting Someone gathers together 16 artists — Brian Calvin, Alejandro Cardenas, Genieve Figgis, Michael Hilsman, Jason Fox, Marcus Jahmal, Aaron Johnson, Allen Jones, Haley Josephs, Sam McKinniss, César Piette, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Vaughn Spann, Phyllis Stephens, Genesis Tramaine and Chloe Wise — who blur the distinction between figuration and abstraction to come up with portraits fitting for the 21st century. Most of the works were made in 2020, presumably in isolation. Yet, even without models, friends or family to pose in the studio, these artists offer a panopticon of faces lifted above the dread of the current moment by an array of unique responses. This diverse group of artists hold one thing in common: they employ imagination rather than replication, elevating their subjective point of view above straight-forward attempts at realism.