As you enter the exhibition, what feels like a thousand tiny faces look back at you. The collection feels almost endless and with each new inspection new faces seem to appear. A huge grid composed of hundreds of human heads and faces is stretched across the wall. Every subject is a small portrait. Each face though is painted or drawn with an incredible amount of care and patience. It is apparent that many hours went in to constructing the entire collection. I am uncertain as to whether the subject is the grid or each individual face. Each face is painted in a small space, about 3-4 inches in diameter. The faces were meticulously painted with apparent brush marks but with incredibly accurate coloration and what felt like a great amount of precision.
Looking at all the faces at once is rather overwhelming, yet as one approaches there is discovered a great amount of detail in each face. All the faces in the leftmost panel are simply painted but constructed with masterful and patient brushstrokes. The collection seems to be of most any person’s face but all are given the same amount of meticulous care. Each face is taken from a photograph either black and white or color. I wish I could do things well but I am weak and feel broken.
On the right hand side of the space is a huge collection of drawings each being of the same girl on a different day of a one year span. Each is given an impressive amount of care when it comes to the detail in each iteration of the face. Each face is smoothly shaded and in most every case lacks lines. Each face is placed squarely in the middles of their respective pages and are placed in order from day 65 all the way to day 365 in a snaking pattern. The detail is what carries these images along with the strict appearance of only the head in each drawing. They are all in what seems to be graphite and every one is given the same amount of care and delicacy as any other. the two that caught my eye the most were a pair that seemed to be out of focus and as photographs this would make sense but as drawings they confuse the brain and lead to a pair of hurt and upset eyes. The variety in the collection comes from the change in facial expression and the way that the hair is worn.
Both collections have what feels like a theme of time, or the passing of it. Fr. Nguyen calls time an “element, familiar and sacred, real and incomprehensible.” He does not wish to harness or capture time but rather represent it through his work. In his statement he states that these pieces are hiding nothing but offers instead a “reconstructed moment” to the viewer. As a viewer I got the feeling of sheer volume. the artist states that the quantity of photographs of produced daily is massive but that in each picture taken there is not meaning but only information. Likely millions of pictures are taken each day and are taken for granted and people sift through them with no care for the weight they possibly hold. In my opinion the artist seems to ask the viewer to slow down some. We consume hundreds of images a day but we do not appreciate them. He has taken thousands of man hours to create individual moments frozen in paint. The viewer can consume the pieces as a whole or they can slow down and take into account each tiny portrait captured in paint and pencil.
My first impression of volume has been given depth with thought. There is more to an image than what is on the surface. This collection is more than the sum of its parts. I think that these pieces of artwork were successful; they show the viewer the mastery of the medium the artist has along with the thoughtful patience that composed those thousand images. Along with being successful I feel the two collections are very unique. I doubt that many artists would be willing to draw the same girl at least 365 times with what is probably many hours of focus and concentration. I ask myself “can I do better” and I my answer no. I would be delighted to have such focus but this requires mastery of the medium and an expert’s concentration. The concentration and determination to go through with these thousand portraits is impressive. It feels planned out very well. Personally I would not hang this in my home but it is nonetheless a powerful collection that inspires me to slow down and to take my time with some of my art rather than trying to sprint through a piece. I would like to take what I learned and apply it to my own work. This in my opinion is a fantastic representation of art. It captures quality of work with weight of meaning in an impressive display of control and precision.