“I am a conduit for the spirit,” Whitten said. “It flows through me and manifests in the materiality of paint.” At first those paintings began with the representation of the face, but eventually, Whitten took toward abstraction as a way to resolve the complexities inherent in portraiture. Through technically inventive paintings and sculptures, Whitten made us rethink what we know about public figures, calling forward new information from the recently deceased, with the intuition of a spiritual medium, a channel—and yes, a messenger.