"Haim" Print

The art of portraiture is one of the oldest art forms, dating back at least to ancient Egypt, where it flourished about 5,000 years ago. Before the invention of photography, the portrait was the single way to record, represent, or express the appearance of loved ones. In the age of the pervasive selfie, paint based portraiture has re emerged as a medium not to post but to postulate, not to answer but to question our role in the world and the ways in which we carry ourselves within it. Now, more than ever, there is a sense of longing for expressions connected to our basic humanity, removed from acts of vanity and other digital preoccupations. In Face to Face, Naomi Kaempfer offers a fresh, almost scriptural, take on modern day portraiture, its meaning, and its rich expressions. Captivated by the human face and its many landscapes, Kaempfer draws from past and personal relationships with her subjects to reflect upon our sense of belonging and human connection in a post pandemic world. While personal, her “ paintratures ” offer a conduit into our own as we are gradually introduced to her subjects: her beloved dog Charlie, a late lover and best friend, a neighbor, a childhood acquaintance. 2 The tension between detailed facial expressions and the unfinished nature of Kaempfer’s narratives is further expressed through her use of cardboard as her substrate as if to hint at the transient nature of human will and mortal wrinkles. Her striking use of color also plays an important role. Wide planes of color gestured side by side, often reminiscent of Euan Uglow's method painting, provoke emotion and touch upon the human experience. Her color palette is not neutral but rather unswervingly vivid; warm tones become hot, cold tones become icy, as they layer and form a whole that is bigger than the sum of its parts, much like the face and its emotional footprint. Kaempfer’s subjects range from the personal to the communal, forming a collection of insights that questions and explores our daily life, emotionally heightened through the use of materials and color. Viewers are gifted a sense of the totality of Kaempfer’s work and its artistic consistency a self portrait of sorts, embodying the very nature of the artist at work and her qualities: humility, integrity, agility, even vulnerability. In a world fraught with tension and hypersensitivity, Face to Face awakens us to look inward and deeply cherish the present moment.