Of all forms of narrative art, which gains momentum as social media becomes ever more numbing in post-pandemic times, portraiture has remained somewhat on the sidelines. Not surprising as the taint of celebrity seeps onto even the best efforts of artists who, like anyone else, must pay the rent. So one must look hard and often to fined heads that represent the artist’s intentions. 

For me the search has (temporarily) ended with Some People, a show that’s both breathtaking and introspective, at Cheim & Read’s uptown gallery. The title comes from Steven Sondheim’s tune in Gypsy:

Some people sit on their butts;
Got the dream, yeah, but not the guts
That's living for some people
For some hum-drum people I suppose…

The artists represented here dream large. The organizer as well, who states that the show aims to ask what a portrait is and what it could be. Drawing on historical precedents, starting with a figure painted by Chaim Soutine from 1939, and continuing to the present, this collection of thirty-six works by thirty plus artists in a staggering variety of means is a wish fulfilled—at least for this writer. Above: The Gardener, 2019 by George Condo [step into the Director's office to see this 80 x 84-inch painting]

Stepping off the elevator I was met by a photograph by William Eggleston taken so close as to be a warning shot: A woman with tousled hair only slightly contained by a silk headband throws a look at an unseen other that states, “I’ve got you in my sights.” At thirty by twenty-four inches, the larger-tha-life-sized image packs a punch.

On the opposite wall a black-and-white mixed media on paper, Crowd Study, by the recently deceased Donald Baechler, seems to pay dues to missed connections: Five heads, faces with remote or wistful expressions, are accompanied by a skull with a grief-stricken look, another smaller skull and depiction of a horse, seem to remind the viewer to be nicer to those around them. Above: Dreaming by Boris Torres, 2009

Maureen Dougherty, whose Instagram page demonstrates her interest in portraits as heads—structurally sound and stripped down to the minimum of means for maximum expression—is represented by the small portrait of her “little prince.” Set against a red and orange background, the utter boredom of youth observing its elders is made physical in this piece, titled “Young” (top photo at left)

Nicole Wittenberg, who, according to a recent interview in Garage, escaped to the Greek island of Patmos in 2019 with a box of soft pastels and some sheets of textured paper, is represented here by two pieces from that time. Known for her large-scale portraits in oil on canvas, this artist hunkered down with her small kit and produced a series of portraits using a limited palette, on colored paper, that, at fifteen and a half by twelve and a half inches (left) are the equal of her finished paintings. 

One of the strengths of this show is the degree to which the organizer sought work by lesser-known artists and lesser-know works by notables who clearly don’t stay home and wonder what’s up. For example, the artist working as cumwizard69420, who dropped his studies of math and economics to start painting in 2019, must have gone to federal court in order to absorb the diabolical intensity of Ghislaine Maxwell under fire in his small oil on canvas painting, below. And Jack Pierson, whose diagrammatic rendition of a figure, from 2003, seems to ask, "Who the f*...."

Some People continues until mid May at Cheim & Read, 23 East 67^th Street, New York, NY. The website gallery offers a comprehensive overview of these works, which you will want to see in person.