Midcity, Los Angeles
Group Exhibition
Beyond Portraiture
Allouche GalleryAlic Brock, Jonathon Downing, Ms. Dyu, Anaja Hvastija Gaia, Teiji Hayama, Miju Lee, Norizo, Roxy Peroxyde, Riikka Sormunen, Iva Visosevic Allouche Gallery is thrilled to present Beyond Portraiture, a dynamic group exhibition featuring 10 contemporary artists from around the globe. Beyond Portraiture brings together a rich tapestry of diverse perspectives from Dubai to Slovenia, pushing the boundaries of the contemporary art scene. Roxy Peroxyde (Roxanne Sauriol Hauenherm), a self-taught painter hailing from Montreal, Canada, showcases her vivid contemporary interpretations of classic paintings in a hyper-realistic manner. Peroxyde’s work elevates hyper contemporary female figures into the canon of the classics; the women she depicts can be found crying while texting, or dawning fluffy pink skirts amid a backdrop of clouds at dawn. Similarly, Riikka Sormunen, based in Helsinki, transports viewers into a world of soft otherworldly femininity; it is a romanticism and sensuality reminiscent of Klimt. In Sormunen’s world, white pigeons wear regal hennins, and leisurely women rest their heads on chaise lounges, golden hair flowing. Iva Visosevic from Croatia similarly explores themes of divine femininity. Her large scale canvases are ethereal in nature, featuring women among pearls and nacres. Her landscape is ethereal, her color palette a mix of rich blues, deep pinks and shimmery purples, highlighting or obscuring the soft contours of the female figure. In a stylistic departure from realism, Anaja Gaia from Slovenia presents anonymous, faceless feminine figures in serene, natural landscapes, creating contemplative and longing atmospheres. Her brush strokes are flat and smooth, her colors are soft and oceanic. Similarly pensive in nature, Miju Lee from South Korea explores storytelling through figures with far away glances, usually female, often with ordinary objects in incongruous places. Her work is playful and her composition precise, Lee somehow simultaneously captures the mundane and the fantastical. Norizo from Japan likewise captures young women with longing expressions, often solitary, in different scenes: one can be found riding a motorcycle, another is sewing. Although his portraits evoke the essence of nostalgia, his style is playful, illustrative and anime-like. Ms. Dyu, based in Dubai, also portrays solitary figures with powerful gazes; she introduces an element of absurdity and irony through more explicitly cartoonish compositions. Her figures’ faces are shielded by their hair, which in turn, is obscured by the clouds in the background. Her work is delightfully tongue-in-cheek; in her universe, lap dogs have expressive brows and give side eye. Teiji Hayama’s work similarly contains a sardonic humor to it, as he explores the intersection of technology and portraiture, distorting pop icons like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Twiggy in uncanny ways. Through the overproduction of layered icons, Hayama questions the societal limitations imposed by technology on meaningful connections. In similar fashion, Alic Brock, based in Atlanta, employs an ultra- precise airbrush technique, distorting and cropping (or “chopping and screwing”) popular digital images before rendering them on canvas. His hyper-saturated color palette and repetition serve as a meditation on digital communication and visual transmission. Jonathan Downing, located near Detroit, Michigan, is also inspired by digital reproductions. He brings a unique aesthetic rooted in photo montage, painting in hyper realism while employing an uncanny, holographic effect to distort the faces of his subjects. His portraits ultimately challenge viewers to consider the effects of modern iconography in popular culture.