Many of these artists, given the guest curator’s area of expertise, come from backgrounds in
portrait painting, and most share her penchant for
photorealism. The resulting collection, in which these artists have the opportunity to stretch, unwind, and experiment, contains assemblage and a mix of traditional and the surreal subject matter. In
Imitations Unframed (2015), the oil painter
Rose Frantzen drapes a finely wrought portrait of a young girl in resin, vegetable fiber, oil, and found materials, creating an organic canvas reminiscent of a decaying forest. The Norwegian
Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen, known for his Scandinavian noir paintings of shadowy figures, further obscures his subjects, rendering them almost beyond recognition, in his
Blight and
Flux (2015).
Felicia Forte, a 2015 BP portrait award winner, forgoes portraiture altogether with her “In the Interim”
series (2015)—mundane still lifes rendered in fuzzy, rose-colored hues—works that draw on her distinct and emotive painting style to transform quiet moments into nostalgic tableaus.