In Your Face?

Sur(face): Portraits Re-Examined

PennWest Edinboro’s (nee’ Edinboro University) current art exhibit brings out the heavy hitters from the school’s permanent art collection and contemporary artists to examine perhaps Man’s oldest artistic inspiration: the human face.

Pablo Picasso!
Edgar Degas!
Jasper Johns!
Fred Flintstone?>

Approximately 30 artists within Bruce Gallery attempt to produce their
own interpretations of what makes us all unique.

At first read, the artwork in Sur(face) is unified through visual
representation but the exhibition digs deeper, excavating the inspiration that
shapes each piece. Here, theology, explorations of self and societal impact
emerge as key themes, all of which are woven together¦ stated show’s
curator Lauren Leving, curator of Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.

Pablo Picasso’s Exposition de Vallauris (1955) is a linocut that shows the
titan of 20th century art still using cubism within his work. Portraying a
horned, bearded man this satyr-like visage seems to harken back to Greek
mythology.

Before becoming renown for his artworks of bathers or dancers, Edgar
Degas instead uses himself as the subject for Par Lui-Meme (1855).
Translated as by himself, the etching shows an expressionless Degas gazing
at the viewer. Most probably created by studying himself in a looking glass,
it’s a unique, almost silent-looking image of a young artist studying his craft
”and himself.

The Flintstones are represented within the exhibit for those
contemporary culture lovers. Here, a single animation cel (a transparent sheet
of celluloid or similar film material, which can be drawn on and used in the
production of cartoons) was produced by an anonymous Hanna-Barbera
artist working on the 1960-64 cartoon. It shows a portion of Fred’s face
displaying some sort of prehistoric concern for today’s viewer’s yuk yuks.

Edward S. Eberle’s The Man in the Moon (2006) is a ceramic bowl with
a simple monochrome image. Eberle, an EUP graduate, presents his own
interpretation on the eons-old myth of a man’s face looking down upon us in
black and white.

Another form of portraiture, self promotion, is evident in Poster for Bill
Fick Visit (2005). Here the titular artist presents an inappropriately named
character, Pretty Boy Floyd, who appears to be a sweaty, blemish-faced boy
sucking a cigarette. While the viewer can’t appreciate the boy’s looks, they
have to admire the craftsmanship that Fick instilled in his hard-to-look-away-at subject.

Marilyn Schwartzman’s photo contributions to Sur(face) feature
inspiration by nature. Her haunting self portraits contain up-close images of
the artist’s countenance covered by burrs or red leaves as in Face Nature with
Burning Bush (2021). Greek mythology referenced again, one can’t help but
recall Daphne, a dryad, who when pursued by Apollo, transformed into a
laurel tree. Through her over 30 featured works within the exhibit that travel
along this same theme, the viewer can’t help but understand the artist’s
attempt to achieve a greater communion with Mother Nature.
—GG

Sur(face): Portraits Re-Examined runs through February 1. Bruce Gallery is
located on Pennwest Edinboro campus, Doucette Hall, 215 Meadville St.,
Edinboro, PA 16444. For more information, visit brucegallery.or call 814-732-
2513.