Rafa Esparza, Lily Fern Tierra y Libertad, 2023.
The Huntington Beach Art Center (HBAC) celebrates its 30th anniversary with Personal Data—What is a Portrait?, a landmark exhibition positioning the Center as a leading destination for contemporary art in Southern California. The exhibition runs from September 6th to November 8th, 2025.
Under the new curatorial vision of Senior Cultural Arts Supervisor Dan Faltz, HBAC launches its Fall 2025 season with Personal Data—What is a Portrait?, a dynamic group show featuring artists Tracy Emin, Rafa Esparza, Cannupa Hanska Luger, and Lauren Halsey.
Curated by Steve Galindo and inspired by Félix González-Torres’ iconic candy portrait-installations, Personal Data—What is a Portrait? explores the portrait as a shifting and expansive form—embracing themes of identity, impermanence, and collective memory.
Located in the heart of Huntington Beach, home to the annual U.S. Open of Surfing, HBAC enters a bold new era—connecting its coastal roots to global conversations in contemporary art.
Personal Data—What is a Portrait? will feature a constellation of conceptual portraits, adding crucial ingredients of temporality, impermanence, and reliance to the conversation of portraiture.
Personal Data—What is a Portrait? explores portraits across artistic mediums, genres, and materials. As part of this exhibition, portraiture as an expanding medium will highlight its profound impact on contemporary art and explore ancient, indigenous, and contemporary manifestations through contemporary materiality.
Dan Faltz shares, “We are wired to recognize a human face within our first few weeks of life. We also tend to attribute human traits to animals, objects, and even whole communities—to find empathy, understanding, and create order out of complex differences. Personal Data uses artwork to ask us, when observing a portrait, are we looking for glimpses of ourselves or for features from faces familiar to us? Is that reaction a reflex or genuine curiosity? Portraits have become increasingly accessible over time—once a symbol of the wealthy, now changes in technology allow us to capture ourselves and others and share instantly.”
