Face exhibition

Photo: PHOTO BY DARREN ROBINSON

Artist Gordon Clegg with his exhibition of portraits, 'FACE - The World' at Gallery Oldham.

FACES are the focus of a new exhibition at Gallery Oldham.

Portrait artist Gordon Clegg has 35 paintings dedicated to the subject in his “FACE — The World” which is on show in the community gallery until January 3, 2015.

Gordon, who is based at Woodend Mill, Mossley, says the works explore his fascination with expressions and communication.

“The exhibition features faces from every major race of people from around the world, starting with Aboriginal and finishing with white European,” said Gordon (67) who has been painting since the age of six.

“No matter who we are or where we are from the one thing we have in common is our faces.

“Every emotion and communication is shown in the face and this is a celebration of that. They are all beautiful in their own way.

“The subject has to have an element of community about it to feature in the community gallery and I think it works well because I see Oldham as a microcosm of the world, it’s very cosmopolitan.”

Alongside portraits of famous people, including George Best and Sinead O’Connor, there are friends and acquaintances who have agreed to sit for Gordon.

Two years ago Gordon, who is chairman of the People’s Gallery, in Tameside, won the gallery’s People Prize for the most popular piece of art.