by Carl Kruse
The Ivy Circle Berlin invites you to an exclusive preview of the art exhibit Face Off at the Vorona Galerie, Friedbergstraße 12, 14057 Berlin on Thursday, February 19, 2026 starting at 6pm.
This is a private tour by gallery owner Julia Vorozhtsova and art curator Jenia Yanes on the day before the exhibit opens to the public.
Champagne expert Fanny Thiel — who is from Champagne, France — will be on hand to serve champagne from her curated selection, while it lasts.
Event Description
Face Off is a group exhibition bringing together artists from diverse cultural contexts: Anastasia Tory (Ukraine–United Kingdom), Rolf Abendroth (Germany), Andreas Geissel (Germany), Cristine Balarine (Brazil-Italy), Sergio Gomez (Mexico-USA), and Jens Joneleit (Germany).
For centuries, the portrait has remained one of the central genres of art. Kings and aristocrats commissioned formal portraits to affirm status and power; artists depicted themselves and their loved ones in an attempt to preserve a gaze, a gesture, a presence in time. The portrait was not merely an image of a person, but a tool of memory, authority, and identity.
A fundamental shift occurred in the early nineteenth century, when photography assumed the role of preserving the human face for posterity. In the twenty-first century, this function has been fully transferred to the cameras of mobile phones: the realistic portrait is created instantly and loses its sense of exclusivity.
It is at this point that art enters a new field of inquiry. If outward appearance no longer requires artistic mediation, what constitutes a portrait today?
Where is the boundary between face and image, between recognizability and inner state?
How can a person (or the self) be described through means removed from the conventions of realistic portraiture?
The exhibition Face Off unfolds as an artistic investigation of these questions.
The works on view reveal a broad range of approaches: from distortion and fragmentation to symbolic and emotional languages. Here, the face ceases to function as a mirror of physical likeness and instead becomes a site of projection, confrontation, and play. It may appear as a mask, a trace, a sign, a state, or an unresolved question.
The title Face Off refers to a moment of direct confrontation: between viewer and image, artist and the tradition of portraiture, the real and the imagined. It evokes the act of “removing the mask,” when the face loses its social function and transforms into a carrier of inner, often vulnerable and unsettling content.
The event is free but has limited space and an RSVP to Carl Kruse at info@carlkruse.net is mandatory. Please do not show up without having reserved a spot.
Following the exhibit, those who wish can head over to the Galander Bar for a nightcap – a 5 min walk from the gallery at Stuttgarter Pl. 15 10627 Berlin. The Galander is one of the top bars in Charlottenburg and a throwback to another era. Perfect for after-gallery gatherings.