SWEET FACES: Silvio Porzionato/Laurence Jenkell: Season Opening Vernissage

At the threshold of a new season, Oblong Contemporary presents Sweet Faces, an encounter between two artistic languages that illuminate the complexity of human experience: the introspective figuration of Italian painter Silvio Porzionato and the vibrant, Pop-inflected sculpture of French artist Laurence Jenkell.

The exhibition unfolds as a dialogue between the monumental and the playful, the solemn and the seductive — between the gravity of the human gaze and the luminous allure of sweetness. What might first appear as contrast gradually reveals itself as complementarity: both artists, in their distinct vocabularies, transform familiar imagery into symbols of contemporary identity.

Porzionato’s portraits are arresting in scale and intimacy. Painted from photographic references yet transcending mere likeness, they capture fleeting emotional states — melancholy, curiosity, serenity — and magnify them into near-sculptural presences. His figures, often isolated against monochrome backgrounds, invite the viewer into silent communion. In their monumental stillness, they become archetypes of human experience: faces that seem to contain entire narratives within a single glance.

Jenkell, by contrast, operates in the shimmering language of Pop sculpture. Her iconic Wrapping Candy series reinterprets the candy twist — a universal emblem of delight — as a meditation on transformation. The spiral folds and gleaming surfaces recall both the structure of DNA and the motion of energy; the act of wrapping becomes a metaphor for protection, seduction, and revelation. What once symbolized deprivation or temptation is elevated into a radiant object of beauty.

Together, Porzionato and Jenkell explore how form and emotion intertwine — how the outer surface can conceal or amplify what lies within. Their juxtaposition poses a subtle question: what lingers longer in memory — the gaze of another, or the sweetness of what we desire?

In Sweet Faces, the gallery becomes a stage for these dualities. Porzionato’s faces, charged with psychological depth, seem to confront Jenkell’s candies — objects of joy, nostalgia, and longing — in a visual exchange that oscillates between introspection and play. The result is not opposition, but resonance: a shared inquiry into how beauty, memory, and desire shape our understanding of the world.

 

Silvio Porzionato
(b. 1971, Italy)
An acclaimed figurative painter, Porzionato is celebrated for his large-scale oil portraits that transform ordinary subjects into timeless icons of humanity. His works have been exhibited in major international fairs and at the 54th Venice Biennale. Notable projects include Temporal Code (MACS, 2013) and 007 Portraits (Aston Martin, 2021). Porzionato lives and works in Piedmont, Italy.

Laurence Jenkell
(b. 1965, France)
A self-taught sculptor, Jenkell has achieved international recognition for her Wrapping Candy series, created in plexiglass, metal, marble, and resin. Her work, bridging Pop Art and contemporary design, celebrates color, form, and the sensuality of material. Exhibited globally, Jenkell’s sculptures have become universal icons of memory and desire.

 

Opening Vernissage: Wednesday, 15 October 2025, from 7 PM
Venue: Oblong Contemporary Art Gallery, Al Khayat Art Avenue, Al Quoz 1 – Dubai
Duration: 15 October – 30 November 2025
Contact: info@oblongcontemporary.com