LONDON, ENGLAND.- The Brick Lane Gallery is pleased to present Stare, a group show addressing and challenging the traditional portrait. The exhibition brings together work by five painters all exploring the figurative portrait with a concern for distortion and deformation. Artists exhibiting include: SCOTT EVERINGHAM, LUIS GALÁN, CHAMBLISS GIOBBI, JONATHAN JOUBERT, MIKE NEWTON AND SAUL ZANOLARI.

Scott Everingham applies the traditional portraiture elements of tone, composition and figurative reference to his work, and then intentionally subverts them by removing his sitter’s face. With Figure Study VIII 1889, 2006 Everingham forces his viewer to engage with little or no information by creating an insipid yet emotive and colourful silhouette of his sitter’s suggestively tilted head.

Luis Galán’s paintings are characterised by brightly coloured forms crossed with heavy black hatches obscuring the faces and bodies. In Cuadro 12-05, 2005 strong shapes and movement are still visible through these very deliberate marks but as Gal á n’s work has changed considerably over his career, moving further away from the figurative, the form of _expression itself has become more important than what it represents.

Underground cult heroes, including Amanda LePore and Indian Larry, are the subject of Chambliss Giobbi’s figurative collages. With Portait of Gina DePalma III, 2003 Chambliss’ representation of porn star DePalma is a distorted body reminiscent of her contorted professional positions.Presented on large aluminum panels Giobbi’s portraits are fractured images made from a dense mass of torn photographs of limbs coming together to form the illusion of physical mutation.

Jonathan Joubert’s working process is to re-configure, re-layer and re-construct images with his purposeful daubs of paint. Using his favoured ‘control’ colour of pink and by removing all that is recognisable and familiar from 99 Problems – A Vulgar Painting About a Bitch With a Gun, 2006, Joubert aims to create from paint an almost sculptural form for his viewer.

Melancholia is a recurring theme in Mike Newton’s oil paintings, his 8 Student Artists, 2005 shows eight linear figures all with their heads and shoulders provocatively turned away in different poses. Newton ’s work stems from drawings, photographs and found objects coming together to create emotive and narrative images.

Saul Zanolari’s practice combines photography and elements of painting in his digitally reworked and distorted images. In Amanda LePore, Muy Balconada, 2006 Zanolari uses a drag queen as his subject, making distortions to elevate selected characteristics to almost comical and grotesque levels.

Scott Everingham graduated from NSCAD University in 2003, has had two solo shows in Canada and taken part in group shows in Europe, Canada , the USA and Asia . Luis Galán’s work has been exhibited extensively in his native Spain where he studied at the Luján Pérez School of Art. Chamblis Giobbi has had several exhibitions in the USA , including numerous shows in New York City . Jonathen Joubert’s work has been shown in group shows across the UK including at the Zimmer Stewart Gallery . Saul Zanolari has exhibited in the USA , Europe and China including the Clampart Gallery in New York.