When a major gallery such as Skarstedt puts on a show that is meant to "demonstrate the many ways in which the components of artist, model, and representation have been configured and reconfigured from the mid-twentieth-century to present," you know the show will feature some museum-quality exhibits. And Faces and Figures, which opened on February 18th at both Skarstedt New York and Skarstedt East Hampton, is a group exhibition with paintings, sculptures, and photographs by absolute heavyweights, including the likes of Bacon, Auerbach, Picasso, Condo, De Kooning, Giacometti, to name a few.

It's hard to "review" a showcase filled with so many stellar names whose works determined the development and evolution of art as we know it today. On top of that, the selected pieces are representing some of the most important series of works by particular artists, showcasing their influence on the course of art history. For example, Buste D'homme Assis (Lotar III) by one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, Alberto Giacometti, is the sculptor’s final work and somewhat a culmination of his practice that was strongly informed by philosophical questions about the human condition. Also focusing on a similar subject, both the Study for Self Portrait and Seated Figure on a Couch by one of the giants of contemporary art, Francis Bacon, give us a sample of the master's unique style which captured the sombre and inward-looking human condition as well as artist's preoccupation with the passage of time and death. Georg Baselitz' figurative, expressive works on both oil on canvas and pencil on paper, are great examples of his body of work in which he depicted the subjects upside down in an effort to overcome the representational, content-driven character of the work. Another contemporary example is George Condo's acrylic, charcoal, and pastel on linen from 2010 that illustrates the artist's infamous hybridization of traditional European Old Master painting with a sensibility informed by American pop. 

The full lineup of this major exhibition includes Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Alexander Calder, George Condo, Willem de Kooning, Eric Fischl, Alberto Giacometti, Mark Grotjahn, Martin Kippenberger, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pablo Picasso, Richard Prince, Thomas Schütte, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol. The grand presentation also marks the closing of their 64th Street venue in NYC as the gallery starts realizing one of their long-time dreams - taking over the whole building with 5 floors of exhibition space at their original location on 79th Street. —Sasha Bogojev

All photos courtesy of Skarstedt