Volker Hermes – James Freeman Gallery, UK

‘The Look’ is an exhibition of new works by Derrick Guild and Volker Hermes, two artists who deconstruct and reconfigure Old Masters portraits to explore the subtle social messaging hidden within.

Derrick Guild is a Scottish artist whose paintings fragment Old Master works to explore the social fabric beneath. Two paintings here reference portraits by Velazquez of the Infanta Margarita Teresa, daughter of Philip IV, her image adapted to appear as if distributed over a grid of luggage tag labels. The original portraits were intended to advertise the Infanta as ‘on the marriage market’, sent abroad to entice prospective suitors, a literal labelling of the young woman as a vehicle for social climbing that Derrick brings to the fore in his paintings. This grid also acts almost like a cage, the woman inside trapped by social status. A smaller label portrait depicts a self-portrait of Velazquez, whose success at court paradoxically removed him ever further from his painting practice. Social labelling thus becomes social baggage, highlighted through Derrick’s trompe l’oeil technique. The accompanying arrangements of Lover’s Eyes take fragments from diverse and often unrelated sources – Lely’s ‘Windsor Beauties’ are intermingled, whilst other groups take elements from painters such as Alan Ramsay, Charles Howard Hodges and Henri-Pierre Danloux – mixing subjects, genders, and painterly styles to create new subjects connected by gold chains. Partly this suggests how painting as a language creates connections between seemingly disconnected people in different cultures and eras. The chains also reference David Hume’s ‘Bundle Theory’ of the self being an entity composed of a bundle of chain links, and Milton’s gold chain connecting Earth, Heaven and Hell. Derrick’s arrangements thus allude to how painting can act as a lingua franca, creating connections in a fragmented world and forging new relationships and identities.

Volker Hermes is a German artist renowned for his ‘Hidden Portraits’, digital interventions into historical portraits that reconfigure textures and patterns from within the image to obscure the sitters’ faces. In doing so he foregrounds fashion’s role in antique portraiture in describing not just a person but also a society. All the works here have one eye staring out, seemingly gazing at us. But these works are all self portraits: the artists’ focus is in fact on themselves. The question then becomes about the elements of dress the artists used to demonstrate not just their skill but their sense of self. Some, such as the blue necker in von Amerling’s image, were already so intrinsic as to be part of the title. Volker transforms it into an adornment akin to fetishwear, executed like a brushmark to suggest the artist’s hand. In ‘Hidden Vigée le Brun V’ the cerise ribbons in the source image are elaborated into an arrangement reminiscent of rococo wigs or decoration. These interventions delve into the vanity of artists, teasing out aspects of these personalities implicit in their clothing choices. The debonair self-assurance of Adriaen van de Venne is revealed as a shield by the ribbons draped from his hat; the enthusiasm for exoticism in Vaillant’s turban threatens to overwhelm him. Knotted ties around the head of Sofonisba Anguissola, like lines drawn by the artist, echo the intrigues she faced at the Spanish court. These works reinterpret the subtle messages these artists embedded in self-images, drawing them out with lyrical flamboyance to make us read them in new ways.

‘The Look’ opens on Thursday 5 June, 6:30 – 8:30pm. To receive the PDF preview catalogue please register via the ‘Request PDF Catalogue’ button on the left side of the screen.