Double Portrait: Paintings in Conversation

Double Portrait: Paintings in Conversation

Joan Bofill

Opening Thursday, October 16th, 6 - 10 PM

The Opening Gallery X The Angel Orensanz Foundation

172 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, New York

http://theopeninggallery.com

The Opening Gallery is pleased to collaborate with Spanish artist Joan Bofill for the upcoming exhibition: JOAN BOFILL · DOUBLE PORTRAIT, curated by Carlo McCormick. Installed across The Angel Orensanz Foundation the exhibition inaugurates The Opening Gallery’s program of location driven projects in Manhattan.

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Spanish artist's innovative practice merges documentary filmmaking with portraiture in rare New York exhibition

There's a moment in every meaningful conversation when the formal structure dissolves and something unexpected emerges—a gesture, a pause, an unguarded revelation. Spanish visual artist Joan Bofill has built a practice around capturing these ephemeral instants, transforming intimate dialogues with cultural figures into what he calls "Double Portraits"—works that exist simultaneously as drawings and filmed conversations.

Bofill's exhibition "Double Portrait: Paintings In Conversation" opens October 16 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, marking a rare New York presentation of work that challenges conventional notions of both portraiture and documentary. The show runs for just two days, creating its own sense of occasion inspired by Raymond Roussel's theatrical imagination.

"Roussel gave me the assurance that I too had a voice, capable of navigating between reason and intuition," Bofill explains.

The project emerged from Bofill's documentary work on the enigmatic French writer. "During those interviews, I began sketching people I spoke with—sometimes just quick notes during a phone call," he recalls. What started as incidental portraiture evolved into deliberate practice where drawing and conversation became inseparable.

The breakthrough came with Bofill's documentary film The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld—selected to premiere at the American Film Institute Festival on October 23, 2025. Bofill interviewed the iconoclastic producer (The Elephant Man, History of the World Part 1, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder) while simultaneously drawing his portrait. "I alternated structured questions with open conversation while drawing. The result was not only an image, but a trace of encounter."

That trace became the foundation for portraits of filmmakers David Lynch, Claudia Llosa, David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro, and Mel Brooks; artists Jan Švankmajer, Joe Coleman, Robt. Williams, and performance artist Johanna Went; writers George Saunders, Michel Butor, and Armando Valladares; musician Jon Batiste; chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov; and most recently, previously exiled Princess Elizabeth Karadordevic, daughter of Paul of Yugoslavia, in Belgrade.

Bofill resists celebrity framing. "Through each conversation an almost Venn-like collective of connection emerges where the portraits become more about the spirit and artifacts of the encounters themselves," he says. The drawings—initially made with whatever materials were at hand, later with markers (like his Lynch portrait), eventually settling into graphite and Chinese ink—capture the rhythm of thought, the cadence of speech, the particular attention that emerges when two people sit in focused dialogue.

The "double" in Double Portrait refers to this multiplicity. Each work exists as both object and document. Visitors encounter drawings alongside screens displaying the conversations that generated them—a hybrid form existing between media.

For this presentation, Bofill expands into "Paintings In Conversation," incorporating paintings and works from different periods. The centerpiece is a rare Japanese Roussel edition, originally dedicated "to Joan Bofill" with the name torn away. Bofill inscribed his own name. "I invited myself into his game."

The Angel Orensanz Foundation's neo-Gothic synagogue provides an ideal setting for work existing at the intersection of portraiture and documentary, European and American perspectives, intimate conversation, and public presentation.

"To portray is not only to depict a face, but to celebrate encounter in its broadest sense," Bofill explains. In an era when authentic cultural dialogue feels increasingly rare, his practice offers proof that meaningful exchange remains possible…and vitally important.

For interview requests contact Mark Borden / egospeed@gmail.com

About the Artist

Joan Bofill Amargós (1982) is a Spanish visual artist and filmmaker whose repertoire includes multiple disciplines, with a particular emphasis on painting and documentary film. His dual focus on visual and audiovisual media defines much of his work, reflecting a deep commitment to the exploration of diverse forms of artistic expression. Bofill does not distinguish between the creation of a plastic and an audiovisual portrait; for him, both media are equally valid and complementary. His fascination with the interplay between vulnerability and strength, as well as innocence and intuition, drives him to create pieces that explore these themes. More at: https://joanbofill.com

About The Gallery

The Opening Gallery at 41 Division st, LES, is a nonprofit cultural venue and initiative established in 2022 at 42 Walker in Tribeca, New York, showcasing global and local artists, practice-based research, as well as performance, live events, and educational programs. Exhibited artists are included in US and international museum permanent collections. Exhibitions include visual and performing arts and music events, with monthly public programs spanning a wide range of topics. The Opening Gallery has presented international and US based artists including Andres Serrano, Sagarika Sundaram, Victoria Bartlett, Michele Zalopany, Kenneth Goldsmith, John Zorn, The Shoplifter, Luciano Chessa, Daniel Firman, Hans Weigand, Raúl Cordero, Jessica Mitrani, United Nations artist-observer Yann Toma, Warren Neidich, Coleman Collins, Constance DeJong, Charles Gaines, Jimmie Durham, Leslie Hewitt, Jimmy Raskin, Agnieszka Kurant, Olu Oguibe, Martha Rosler, Allen Ruppersberg, Chrysanne Stathacos, Leah Singer, Ronan Day-Lewis, Orit Ben Shitrit, Undisclosed Recipients, Mia Enell, Brenda Zlamany, Regina Scully, Mark Borden: Egospeed and Bill Hayward. In spring 2024 the gallery presents a selection of Watermill Center former artists-in-residence including Eileen O’ Kane Kornreich, Christopher Knowles with Sylvia Netzer, D. Graham Burnett and "The Order of the Third Bird," and Brian Block. The Gallery has hosted the New York Arab Festival and events organized by MoMA curators and collaborates with Sorbonne Art Gallery in Paris. The nonprofit cultural venue and initiative supports a heteroclite art ecosystem that attempts to go beyond prevalent gallery models in Tribeca. Proceeds support neurodiversity, charitable causes, and the non-profit Luv Michael, which is committed to enriching the lives of autistic adults. The Opening was founded by Sozita Goudouna, PhD and in 2023 partnered with the London-based publisher Eris to present exhibitions related to publications by Kenneth Goldsmith, Andres Serrano, ORLAN, and Lucas Samaras among other acclaimed contributors and artists. The publishing art program has hosted readings of Edward Said's poems by Simon Critchley, Stathis Gourgouris, and Udi Aloni, as well as readings of Gabriele Tinti by Vincent Piazza.

https://www.theopeninggallery.com