Pékin Fine Arts is pleased to present Face, a group exhibition of portraits and figures reexamined in painting and photography by four gallery artists.

Traditionally, figure-as-subject served the powerful, presupposing an idealized man or woman. Painterly postures were imbued with apparent moral authority and a false sense of authenticity. Gradually, more individualistic pursuits evolved. Today, what we call “realism” takes myriad forms; more likely a stepping off point to a deeper understanding of historic images, and a reflection of the artist’s point of view.

The ruling tendency in contemporary art is no longer figurative. The pendulum has swung to abstraction, multi-media, and other postmodern pursuits. Despite such trends, figurative art stubbornly remains, resisting obsolescence. For some, figurative art is more complex, can go deeper, and achieve more. Perhaps within these trend-defying spaces, individual pursuits will drive portraits and figures into realms, heretofore unexplored.