Duddell’s

In 2013 Wedel Art curated Duddell’s inaugural exhibition Face to Face in Hong Kong, which presented a rethinking of the traditional genre of portraiture; recalling the history of dining rooms and clubs past, but with a contemporary and nuanced vision.  Artists included Nan Goldin, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Hiroshi Sugimoto, George Condo, Pieter Hugo, Yan Xing and Rodney Graham. 

Historically, portraiture was one of painting’s main raisons d’etre, to record the likeness of real persons to be admired in their lifetimes and for posterity. Today, long since the advent of photography and the rise of conceptualism, the traditional portrait has all but disappeared from the lexicon of contemporary art. In its place has risen conceptual portraiture, in which artists allude to the past genre to comment on larger issues such as identity, multiculturalism, social inequities, politics and celebrity culture. Whereas the old vanity portrait exists only outside the realm of serious contemporary art, portraits in this new sense have never been more relevant. 

“Mr. Duddell’s”, the surreal, anonymous character in his top hat whose likeness embodies the brand’s nod to the gentlemen’s club of times past, is nowhere to be found amongst the portraits on these walls. Guests will instead find a collection of portraits drawn from the studios of established and emerging artists from across the globe. Each are ground-breaking and important artists in their own right and reveal an insight into what contemporary portraiture has become. 

Among those artists included will be South African Pieter Hugo, whose oeuvre includes an unsettling series drawn from the character types and storylines used in Nollywood, the astonishingly prolific Nigerian film industry which produces almost 1000 low-budget films annually. Also included are portraits of historical figures, made by taking photos of their wax effigies at Madame Tussaud’s, by Hiroshi Sugimoto.  Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s brushy portraits feature fictional people she makes up, often bestowing with provocative glares that challenge viewers to complete their stories. Rodney Graham assumes different characters in his photographs, playing with charicatural types from past and present.  Nan Goldin’s evocative portraits of her friends, and herself, celebrate subculture communities of punk and drag queens to which she belongs, while Yan Xing’s intimate video discussing his childhood draws on notions of identity through family and time.