Aldrich Museum's Portraiture Series Features Six Solo Shows with Mixed Results

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut launched six solo exhibitions under the theme "Portraiture at The Aldrich" from January 30 to June 5, 2011, with Shimon Attie's closing on May 30. This new curatorial approach, developed over a year, presents works by Jenny Dubnau, James Esber, Hope Gangloff, Thilo Hoffmann, KAWS, and Timothy White. Dubnau's "Head On" features seven large oil portraits emphasizing photographic realism, capturing subjects in unguarded moments. Esber's "Your Name Here" displays over 100 collaborative drawings based on his Osama Bin Laden template, with contributions from artists like David Sandlin and Ann Pibal. Hoffmann's "High School Portraits" includes fourteen large color prints where teenagers directed their own shoots, with mixed artistic success. Gangloff's "Love Letters" contains nineteen paintings showing young professionals through bold compositions and narrative details. Attie's video installation "MetroPAL.IS" presents immigrants reciting blended Palestinian and Israeli declarations on eight screens. White's "Portraits" offers thirty-seven celebrity photographs that resemble commercial work. The review notes uneven quality and suggests the museum's accessibility focus may compromise artistic challenge, though past shows by Elana Herzog, Tom Burckhardt, and Ted Victoria demonstrated better balance.