heads
“Heidi Neff offers up one of the exhibit’s most provocative and confrontational works. Neff’s “Head Project” consists of 30 oil-on-canvas portraits of women in varying states of rapture. The aggressive paint handling and extreme expressions on some of the women’s faces (closed eyes, open mouths, shiny lips) gives the piece an unsettling, almost melancholy tone. Focusing solely on the women’s expressions, and with little guideposts as to their individual personalities save for the random accessory, Neff gives the women a sad sense of anonymity. Viewing the piece becomes a voyeuristic experience, which while a little unnerving, is wholly intriguing.”
—Jennifer Modenessi, Contra Costa Times, September 24, 2004
The heads of politicians were done in a similar spirit, specifically for an exhibit in Phoenix, Arizona called “Elective Acts” on election night of 2004. I found images of each of the politicians in their own “state of rapture,” often open-mouthed, pontificating at a microphone.