November 17, 2007
''Timely, thought-provoking and resplendent,'' is how Brian Bishop describes Face Value, the national juried exhibition he assembled for the Fine Art Gallery on the Broward Community College Central Campus in Davie.
On view through Dec. 11, the show takes the idea of portraiture to new and creative lengths.
Lauren Odell Usher of California opts for the unconventional in her piece Receipts by using store receipts from Urban Outfitters, Walgreens and Ned's Berkeley Bookstore, among other places, to hold images of herself in various poses with linocut prints. The all-red images convey an old-school, Soviet-poster feeling.
In the second-place winner, Made in China, Eydi Lampasona of Boca Raton only implies the human presence through a piece of clothing. Her work is a kimono meticulously fashioned from little bits of material -- clothing labels and silk -- and a commentary on whether certain people are driven more by the cachet of high-priced designers than the worth of the garments on their bodies.
Mare Vaccaro of New York won best in show for her print No Clowns of a bald woman in profile looking like an alien.
First place honors went to Jonathan Jacquet of Georgia for his small Self-Portrait, an oil on panel showing a warts-and-all portrayal of a face with no attempt to disguise a double chin and an unseeing right eye. It has the direct frontal punch of a prison mug shot.
Fort Lauderdale's Jan Johnson won third place for Ascending Memory, an etching of two females, one in the midst of a high dive and the other a serene young woman in profile.
The natural world is referenced in Mischief, a ceramic wall hanging that won a juror award for Susan Banks. A human eye appears in a face made of seeds and topped with horns.
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