At the inception of this body of work, Vincent imposed a strict set of rules: each painting would have a single figure, in the style of head and shoulder portraiture, backgrounded by a solid field of color. From that narrowly defined mold sprung forth ABOUT FACE, a collection of portraits of fictional subjects, each a narrative exploration in exhaustive depth.

Drawing upon the New Objectivity style of portraiture in Weimar Germany, Vincent’s subjects are emotionally composed and clinically rendered. When cast against his subjects’ flatness of affect, every minute subversion of expectation, such as the inclusion of a subject’s personal accessory, or a subtle variation in facial expression, imbues the composition with psychological dimensionality.

The viewer is positioned as another, or rather the only other character in the work, one left unseen and just out of frame. A tension between viewer and subject is vividly present, as though the viewer presents an unexpected interruption. She is implicated in the breaching of some critical boundary, creating the awkward sense of having intruded on a private moment. The viewer finds himself having switched places, the unexpected participant in an unanticipated exchange. What did he do, to be considered with suspicion and bewilderment, to be the subject of such pregnant expectation?

ABOUT FACE is the artist’s first exhibition with SPY Projects.