An Exhibition at the Sears Art Museum, November 22 – January 10, 2025.

The Sears Art Museum’s upcoming exhibition, About Face / How Do You Figure?, invites visitors to explore the human form and face, among the oldest and most captivating subjects in art. Opening on November 22, 2024, and running through January 10, 2025, the exhibition examines how representations of the human face and body reflect societal ideals, emotional resonance, and cultural identity.

The opening reception on November 22 will include light refreshments and live entertainment by Kenny’s Caricatures, offering guests a chance to take home a personalized caricature and enjoy a lively, interactive start to the exhibition.

From ancient cave paintings to refined royal portraits, the human form has long been a source of fascination, offering audiences a mirror to our shared humanity. About Face / How Do You Figure? gives visitors an opportunity to reflect on how artists from different eras have represented the human form. Audiences are encouraged to explore these rich portrayals, engage with timeless questions of identity, and consider the evolving meanings embodied in the human form.

James Peck, Director and Curator of the Sears Art Museum, underscores the exhibition’s importance: “The human form and face are fundamental to how we understand ourselves. Throughout history, artists have used the form and the face as symbols of beauty, power, and identity.”

Featured regional artists, including McGarren Flack, Dilleen Marsh, Dennis Martinez, Del Parson, Megan Schaugaard, Julie Rogers, and Peg Wheeler, contribute distinctive perspectives to the exhibition, ranging from realism to conceptual abstraction. Additionally, pieces from the Sears Art Museum’s permanent collection by noted artists like Jerry Anderson, J. Roman Andrus, Laura Gilpin, Dorothea Lange, Michael Malm, Fritz Scholder, and L’Dean Trueblood complement the exhibition’s exploration of the human form.

The Eccles Grand Foyer will feature works by Semion Percin (1905-1998), a celebrated Russian-born American portrait artist and caricaturist, known for his humor-infused caricatures and precise portraiture. Based in Southern California, he captured the likenesses of over 100,000 people, from Hollywood stars to beachgoers, in a career spanning more than 60 years.

Visit SearsArt.com for more information.