Advancing Stream (2026) by Mark Engel. Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 48 x 60 in. (DETAIL)
Introduction
This essay, which is being published for the first time in conjunction with the exhibition Disrupted Realism: The Evolution of a Movement at Werring Contemporary, deals with a topic that is central to the emergence and evolution of disrupted imagery in art: the use of the human figure as an expressive vehicle. Nearly all of the 16 artists included in this exhibition either paint the figure or have painted it during their earlier artistic development. The persistence of the figure—and of various forms of portraiture—as subject matter open to variations in style and approach stands out across time. Exploring and understanding the deep roots of figure painting and bringing them into contemporary contexts is essential to understanding what disrupted art stands for today.