Guest Curator: Donna Gustafson
Curatorial Statement: When Picasso famously described art as a lie that reveals truth, he suggested that deception and disguise are the tools of artists who work in both abstract and realistic modes. Artists who focus on the human form and explore the ways that we define ourselves through costume, posture, and outward appearance have explored portraiture as a theatrical space of masks and mystery. Abstract artists also explore identity and disguise by layering images, veiling content, or by making direct references to past artists in order to disguise themselves or the other. This exhibition includes a group of contemporary artists who playfully accept shifts in identity, masking and unmasking, different guises and even disguises in order to explore fact, fiction, and the space in between.
Curatorial Statement: When Picasso famously described art as a lie that reveals truth, he suggested that deception and disguise are the tools of artists who work in both abstract and realistic modes. Artists who focus on the human form and explore the ways that we define ourselves through costume, posture, and outward appearance have explored portraiture as a theatrical space of masks and mystery. Abstract artists also explore identity and disguise by layering images, veiling content, or by making direct references to past artists in order to disguise themselves or the other. This exhibition includes a group of contemporary artists who playfully accept shifts in identity, masking and unmasking, different guises and even disguises in order to explore fact, fiction, and the space in between.
