Visage – Face with a View
VISAGE – FACE WITH A VIEW
February 13-May 8, 2022
vis·age
/ˈvizij/
noun LITERARY
a person's face, with reference to the form or proportions of the features.
"an elegant, angular visage"a person's facial expression.
"there was something hidden behind his visage of cheerfulness"the surface of an object presented to view.
"the moonlit visage of the port's whitewashed buildings"
FROM THE CURATOR
I can’t stifle a smile every time I hear Talking Head’s love paean This Must be the Place (Naïve Melody). The trigger is David Byrne singing, “out of all those kinds of people, you got a face with a view.” Shoot me. I couldn’t resist.
Faces fill the Cassilhaus Collection. More than sixty percent of its works are portraits and a large subset of those explore the depth and complexity of facial expression whether presented by the subject or elicited by the artist. Eyes that light up, eyes look through you. This is the largest survey exhibition we’ve presented to date, entirely from the collection, with one hundred works by over eighty artists across five media.
Putting this show together has, at times, been an emotional walk down memory lane as stories, remembrances, and artists who have become friends all fold together. The works in the show by Mimmo Jodice and Michael Prince were two of the first pieces that started me on my collecting journey 23 years ago. They still make me smile and fill my heart. I spent seven years like a bloodhound tracking down a print of Sally Mann’s Candy Cigarette while Torben Eskerod’s Portrait of Liv Carlé blindsided me and jumped in my lap when I was running in the other direction. Did I find you or you find me? And each time the old guard comes out to play with newer and different pieces, they offer up something new. There is deep history on these walls.
The less we say about it the better. Make it up as we go along.
These exhibitions don’t come together by themselves. Christina Wytko has touched virtually every aspect of this show from framing, glazing, hanging, painting, lighting, producing this epic gallery guide, and agreeing to moderate a panel discussion with several artists represented. I am indebted to her and she has rendered herself indispensable at Cassilhaus. Heather Evans Smith designed our beautiful show graphics again. My talented young cousin Caroline Lorio jumped in as lighting intern and was an astonishingly quick study. There is no Cassilhaus event without Ellen Cassilly and her touches and insights are everywhere including the installation of an eighty-four foot string of artists’ names around the baseboards of the main gallery. My greatest debt, however, is to the scores of artists who made this revelatory work with love, vision, soul, and faces with views that don’t stop. I guess I must be having fun.
If someone asks, this is where I’ll be.
Frank Konhaus
February, 2022
Gallery guide available here.
3D Virtual walk through of entire exhibition here.
(For a tutorial on navigating the 3D walkthrough Matterport visualizations watch here.
PROGRAMMING/Events
ALL VISITORS TO CASSILHAUS MUST CONFIRM THAT THEY ARE FULLY VACCINATED AND HAVE RECEIVED A BOOSTER SHOT. MASKS ARE REQUIRED AT ALL TIMES. THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO KEEP US ALL HEALTHY AND SAFE!
Exhibition Opening Sunday February 13
Available time slots:
11AM-1PM RSVP to Visage_Session3@cassilhaus.com SOLD OUT
1-3 PM RSVP to VISAGE_Session1@cassilhaus.com SOLD OUT
3-5 PM RSVP to VISAGE_Session2@cassilhaus.com SOLD OUT
Virtual Artist Talk with Lola Flash March 10 7 PM
Virtual Artist Talk with Sophie Barbasch and Trent Davis Bailey March 22 7 PM
Virtual Panel Discussion with Bill Bamberger, Gabriel Garcia Roman, April 5 7 PM
and Mona Kuhn moderated by Christina Wytko
Collector/Curator Talk with Frank Konhaus April 21 7 PM
In Person Only!
The Great Hall
Extraordinary Ventures
200 South Elliott Road Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Event starts promptly at 7. Free parking on site.
All attendees should be vaccinated and boosted.
In Person “Stragglers” Closing SOLD OUT April 30 2-4 PM
SOLD OUT April 30 3-5 PM
Contact waitlist@cassilhaus.com to inquire about getting on the wait list.
VISAGE Panel Discussion with Bill Bamberger, Gabriel Garcia Roman, and Mona Kuhn
April 5, 2022
Private appointments for individuals, schools, or other groups upon request. Please email frank@cassilhaus.com.