George Weait British, b. 2000

Someone came into the gallery the other day and asked, why is that classed as portraiture? They were pointing at a George Weait. It sparked an age-old discussion about what is art, and how everyone’s response to art is completely unique to the individual. However more importantly it initiated a discussion around portraiture specifically, the purpose of portraiture and how it has evolved to become what we see in a contemporary modern art gallery. What is portraiture? Why is it so important to the art historical canon? How have we...