Alex Katz Halsey 5, 2022

To create double portraits such as Halsey 5 (2022), Alex Katz crops photographs of the same subject and tapes them together, juxtaposing two angles of the same face. Rendered in minimal planes of warm colour against a contrasting grey ground, this portrait explores the subtleties of human facial expressions, capturing the small variations in the woman’s smile and gaze. With the sitter’s features painted larger than life, the work immerses the viewer in what the artist terms ‘the immediate present’.

Alex Katz will receive a major retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York from 21 October 2022 to 20 February 2023.