Untitled (lockdown portrait) (2020)

Gillian Wearing is a conceptual artist and is part of the generation of artists known as the YBAs. Her films and photographs explore the expression of identity in public and personal spaces, often featuring her family members. Wearing is known for her documentary method of film and photographic portraits which capture everyday life. She is concerned with portraying identity within the private and the public spaces we inhabit, blurring the line between reality and fiction. Although Wearing’s portraits initially appear to conform to traditional methods of documentation, she highlights how the camera is not objective towards its subjects and invites the subject to include their own thoughts in the picture, often through text. This makes the interaction between artist, subject and viewer more conversational than the typical methods of .

During the first lockdown, Wearing created a series of self-portraits, some in watercolour and a few in oil paint, that documented her state of mind during isolation. This resulted in an exhibition entitled Gillian Wearing. The themes explored within the artworks echo her familiar interests in masks and identities, but in a radical and new way. The watercolours and oils, as opposed to film, convey a different side to Wearing, one that is inherently vulnerable and makes the viewer think of isolation and loss. The painting Untitled belongs to this body of work. Wearing is depicted gazing into the distance looking forlorn, an expression so powerful that the presence is undeniable.

The impact of the pandemic on the arts has been widely documented with visual artists having projects, exhibitions and displays cancelled and this series captures the anxiety faced across the arts and heritage sector because of the uncertainty around recovery and what the future will hold post pandemic.

Portraiture is well represented at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. This acquisition will join figurative work by Claudette Johnson and Lubaina Himid, facilitating discussions around social and cultural identity. Furthermore, Untitled from the lockdown series will ignite conversations around representations of mental health and wellbeing.

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