Portrait Without a Face probes the curious intersection of abstraction and figuration and their unexpectedly shared capacity to deal with identity.

Twelve artists, each making highly individuated work across both painting and sculpture, each with divergent ambitions and processes, demonstrate that what coalesces, particularly when we view them alongside each other, is that undiscovered braids magically entwine like invisible strands of DNA to establish identity. 

Whatever their approach, it seems that the deeper co-ordinates of character are seldom uncovered via mere depiction. Rather there is a vibration, a pulse that is ensnared in and by the act of making – and that this reciprocity between material, process and artist makes a deeper kind of portrayal inevitable.

Across this group of works there are “portraits” that are celebratory, poignant, sensual, extravagant, tempestuous, and much, much more. What they all communicate however is that the coordinates of humanity are considerably more complex than the idiosyncrasies of the face.