Paul Cézanne
At the Water’s Edge, c. 1890
National Gallery of Art
Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman
At the Water’s Edge, c. 1890
National Gallery of Art
Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman
Our
Infinite
Selves
"Here on the edge of the river, the motifs are very plentiful, the same subject seen from a different angle gives a subject for study of the highest interest and so varied that I think I could be occupied for months without changing my place, simply bending a little more to the right or left."
So said French artist Paul Cézanne, who famously returned to the same motif time and time again, finding endless variation and subject of fascination.
And so with Peter Bruun and self-portraiture.
For nearly 30 years, Peter made art derived
literally and exclusively from self-portraiture.
How so is the subject of this presentation.
Drawn to making figurative art from an early age,
Peter initially used himself as a model out of convenience.
With time, self-portraiture grew to become a subject of
ongoing interest and investigation.
In the late 1980s, whether in charcoal or paint,
he endlessly explored possibility.
The work soon became less about portraying a likeness...
…and increasingly about how figurative marks can be taken apart...
...used as building blocks...
…and re-assembled any number of ways.
It is little wonder such investigation led to fully abstract works.
By the 1990’s, Peter’s art was no longer self-portraiture in any conventional sense.
No matter the medium, marks based on self-portraiture become bricks for building form in infinite variety.
Sometimes the results appear to be something like a face…
…and sometimes not...
…endless manifestations of form…
…signifiers of identity…
...always grounded in marks made from observing himself in the mirror...
…no matter how abstract or minimal the final result.
In totality, a single body of work 30 years in the making, with multiple manifestations and limitless interpretations.
A limitless study of our infinite selves.