Ronald L. Hall: BlindNation, 2010, oil on canvas, 30 by 40 inches. In “Head.” Courtesy BOSI Contemporary.
The portrait head, one of the most venerable forms of Western art, has also been-for that very reason-one of the most contested sites of modernist and postmodernist innovation. This show, put together by veteran independent curators Robert Curcio and Dominick Lombardi, features paintings, drawings, collages and sculptures by 11 contemporary artists who give a new twist, sometimes literally, to the bodily locus so intimately associated with intelligence, character and beauty (or its lack). Participants include Nina Levy (big adult head in a baby carriage), Benedetta Bonichi (skeletons in flagrante delicto) and Ronald L. Hall (Obama with a crown of thorns and a black bar across his eyes).