Modelled in Light
Faces with weight. The twenty works in this room are painted, not outlined: the cheek catches light, the eye sits in a socket, the chin casts a shadow. They come in two runs. In the winter of 2022 a set of quiet portraits, pale and soft, drawn in loops over discs of color. In the spring a set of glossy sculpted heads on flat bright grounds, shining like polished wood.
The ground changes with the paint. The winter faces float in haze, with no edge between the face and the air. The spring heads stand on one color, teal, orange, cyan, and their edges are hard.
In the winter portraits the eyes look at you, or down, or away. In the spring heads they narrow, cross and hollow out, and the mouth starts to sneer.
Faces in the Glow
December 2021 and January 2022. A pale head in orange light, a face on black, and two portraits in haze.
Nifty Faces #49
A pale head in a glow of orange and red, its eyes crooked, one higher than the other, its teeth hanging from the lower edge of the face like a row of keys. The head is drawn in white, green and pink loops over soft discs of color, and the light seems to come from behind it. It is the first painted face in the series, from December 6, 2021, and the one that sets the room's method: discs of soft color first, then loops of line.
Nifty Faces xmas special
A face on black with a white band across the brow like a cap, a thick mustache, and a mouth open on white teeth, painted in purple, orange and blue.
Nifty Faces #58
A ghostly face in pale grey and lilac, with two dark hollow eyes and a small mouth, drawn in thin loops over discs of white and pink. The hair is pale strokes falling at the sides. Nothing is outlined. The face is made only of where the discs are lighter and darker, and the line on top is thin and loose. It is the most densely drawn work in the room.
Nifty Faces #61
A woman with blue eyes and a small mouth, painted in olive and brown over soft discs, her hair loose at the sides, looking out.
Quiet Portraits
January 26 to March 25, 2022. Eight faces in shadow: a bald man, a profile in loops, a lace collar, a hat and goggles, a man with his eyes closed.
Nifty Faces #62
A bald man's head in dark brown and gold, with green eyes that look off to one side, a straight nose and a closed mouth. The light falls from the left, so the brow and the near cheek are gold and the far side of the face sinks into dark. A thin orange line follows the eyes and the lips. It is the stillest face in the series, and the most like a person seen in a room.
Nifty Faces #65
A profile in loose white and black loops on cream, facing right, with an orange mouth and no teeth, forty-four strokes over soft discs of pink and lilac.
Nifty Faces #66
A dark head on white, tilted back with the chin raised, modelled in brown and black with red, green and white loops over it, its eyes narrowed.
Nifty Faces #69
A long-haired figure in olive with dark eyes and a white lace collar, the collar drawn as a net of white lines and dots.
Nifty Faces #85
A grey head in a hat with two huge pale eyes like goggles, a grin of white teeth, modelled in grey and purple.
Nifty Faces #100
A head in layered translucent paint, brown, blue and lilac, a large ear at the right.
Nifty Faces #103
A man with his eyes closed, painted in brown and grey with orange and white line, on a ground of grey stripes.
Nifty Faces #116
A dark face on magenta with a mop of pink and gold hair and a red X in one eye, outlined in thick white, its mouth a grid of small teeth.
Glossy Heads
April 13 to May 22, 2022. Eight heads that shine: sculpted in dark paint, lit from one side, on flat bright grounds.
Nifty Faces #121
A glossy dark head on violet with one yellow eye and a wide grin of white teeth, drawn in white and black line over paint that shines. A row of white teeth sits on top of the head like a crown. The nose is a long triangle. It is the first of the glossy heads, from April 13, 2022, and it casts a shadow on the violet, the first shadow in the room.
Nifty Faces #124
A glossy head on orange with narrowed eyes and a sneer, painted in brown, gold and black with scribble over the crown.
Nifty Faces #125
A glossy dark head on lavender with a yellow cross in one eye and a target in the other, a grin of white teeth, and fingers resting on top of the head.
Nifty Faces #126
A glossy dark mask on a ground of orange and pink stripes, with two swirl eyes, a long nose, a row of large white teeth and a border of yellow beads around the head. The paint is black with white and blue highlights, and the beads are small yellow circles drawn at even spacing. The stripes behind it run in waves. With 372 recorded strokes it is the most worked of the glossy heads.
Nifty Faces #129
A glossy dark head on teal with two hollow eyes, painted in black and lilac with colored scribble over it.
Nifty Faces #130
A glossy green head in a hat with flowers on the brim, on olive, with small eyes and an open mouth.
Nifty Faces #131
A glossy face on cyan with crooked eyes, one high and one low, a row of white teeth, and a crown of yellow scribble for hair.
Nifty Faces #132
A glossy dark head on orange, lit by pale beams from the upper left, its mouth open on white teeth, one eye a white ring in shadow. The beams are soft wedges of pale yellow laid over the head. Five months after the pale head in the orange glow, the light is back, but now it falls on something solid and casts a shadow. The last work in the room, from May 22, 2022.
Compare with #49, in this roomClosing
The pale head in the orange glow is lit from behind, and the face is barely solid. The dark head from May is lit by beams. In both, the light is the subject. In the first it dissolves the face. In the last it strikes it.