Artnet

By Annikka Olsen

In an era when persona-driven solo shows reign supreme, the group show is—particularly during the summer, when out-of-office auto-responses are epidemic—often overlooked, or, worse yet, thought of as exhibition program “filler.” Yet it is precisely group shows that provide what is often seen as missing within the greater art world calendar and surrounding discourse: strong curatorial voices, thematic and medium-based explorations, and new perspectives on the current artistic zeitgeist. Group shows are a place where art—rather than the artist alone—gets the real limelight. Historically, it has also proven a potent entryway for emerging artists to get their foot in the proverbial door, without having to shoulder the immense pressure of a premature debut solo.

While single-artist shows are often touted either as star-making vehicles or as reflections of shifts in the art-making landscape—or both—their value primarily lies in their focused look at one artist’s work from a specific period (usually a recent one). To reiterate: There is real value in spotlighting one artist’s voice amid the art world cacophony. But the focus on solo shows can also be limiting. For broader insights, we must look to the group show.

A Closer Look at Genre and Medium

Another leviathan group show, “Yours Truly” at Nahmad Contemporary on the Upper East Side also provides a fresh perspective. Comprised of 50 diverse living artists, the show surveys recent self-portraiture with the aim of capturing a nuanced and complex “snapshot” of the current moment—and all that entails.

Curated by Eleanor Cayre and on view through September 14, the very definition of self-portraiture as a genre is made malleable and subjective, both in medium and subject matter, when seen through the lens of a group show. Works on paper, paintings, and sculptures commingle. While some are executed in the expected figurative style, others—including a Wolfgang Tillmans photograph of his sneakered foot or a bronze cast of hair by Martine Syms—interrogate what a depiction of “self” actually means. Instead of a “Linnean” false unity, “Yours Truly” serves to illustrate the fluid state of representation, identity, and autobiographical expression today.