The Expressionist Portraits of Chase Lock
This work echoes Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a sixteenth-century Italian artist famous for his imaginative portraits composed of objects like fruits, vegetables, and flowers. His portraits were not just surreal creations but also witty commentaries on human nature and identity. Archimboldo’s work resonates with Lock’s in how both artists deconstruct and then reassemble the human form into something more than just a literal depiction.
Adrian Ghenie, a Romanian artist known for his abstracted portraits, brings a similar intensity to the canvas. Ghenie uses thick layers of paint and expressive strokes to create portraits that feel almost sculptural. The heavy textures and fragmented forms in his work parallel Lock’s own exploration of human complexity, where impasto and abstraction intersect with the emotional weight of portraiture.
Study of Henrietta Moraes Laughing is a great example of Francis Bacon’s portraits; it sold at Christie’s on 15 November 2018 for USD 21 million. This painting seizes our attention, like a person whose arrival lights up a room. We become immersed in it, gazing at a painting that, irrespective of the mysteriously, equivocally closed eyes, confronts us just as intently. Bacon was trying to convey feelings, about himself, life and death, and of his subject, that were problematic to express in paint. To do so required both dexterity and an unforced sense of conviction that are impossible to maintain with absolute consistency.
