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Arts & Communication Self-portraits as masks

admires, she incorporates elements of Rembrandt’s style to
produce a contemporary self-portrait. This painting, along
with others in the exhibition, showcases how Wearing’s
work draws from a wide range of images and artworks
from the past. The theme of personal and collective
identity is explored through a contemporary lens. The
painting Looking Forward, Looking Backward (2023) is
the culmination of this process, as it features a double
self-portrait and a play on mirrors and reflections. On the
left, a young Wearing gazes at the more mature self-image
placed on the right, in a pattern that repeats Piero della
Francesca’s Double Portrait of the Dukes of Urbino (1465 –
1472). The viewer is once again faced with the challenging
task of determining which is the “true” portrait of the artist
from among the various self-images depicted.

5. Conclusion

A large part of Wearing’s artistic production consists of a
form of self-representation that does not collide with the
traditional concept of self-portraiture, as the identity of the
subject constantly evades definition, thus “disembodying”
itself through different faces. In Family Album, the
chameleon-like interpretation of countless personalities
and roles, tangentially different from each other, helps to
Figure 3. Gillian Wearing, Untitled (lockdown portrait), 2020, oil on conceal Wearing’s already imperceptible identity, which
canvas. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy Maureen Pauley, London
loses its unity through a process of multiplication of
the personal image. The same happens in the countless
self-portraits, the target of identity is again lost, confused portraits of the artist taken over the years, in which the
in the plurality of its versions. Wearing, then, lets the mask worn prevents penetration into her personal sphere.
mask slip, only to remind us that we always wear one,
even when we are outside the social context. In this sense, Wearing uses her body without realizing an
Lockdown’s self-portraits are related to early works such as autobiographical narrative, producing numerous selves
I’m Desperate, where the artist’s mask and face eventually that do not add up or tell anything about her personality,
coincide. interests, or personal life, in line with the characterization
of the postmodern subject postulated by Jameson and
In 2023, Wearing held a solo exhibition titled “Reflections” Gergen. Her works simultaneously activate different
at the Regen Projects Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition temporalities, showing artificial versions of the artist at
showcased new paintings inspired by the esthetics and the age of 3, 50, or 70 years, in a timeless configuration
styles of past artists whom Wearing admired. The paintings that allows her to create a continuous self-portrait through
depict details of objects, still-life scenes, and empty rooms, which she mirrors herself in multiple bodies and identities.
combined with self-portraits. In No Reflection (2023), for Wearing’s face gradually loses its resemblance to herself
example, Wearing portrays herself sitting on a chair, from and ends up as a foreign body, a mask, or – rather – an
behind, looking into a mirror. The mirror does not reflect essence suspended between the self and the other.
the artist’s face, which creates a sense of estrangement and
loneliness reminiscent of the works of Edward Hopper. Acknowledgments
In Rembrandt’s Eyes (2023), Wearing employs the None.
penetrating gaze of the Dutch painter to depict herself Funding
through a dense painting characterized by masterful uses
of lighting and contrasts. The artist’s eyes are prominent None.
in the painting, gazing at the viewer with an intense and
melancholic expression. In contrast to the Spiritual Family Conflict of interest
series, in which Wearing impersonates the artists she The author declares no conflict of interest.

doi:
Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) olume 3 Issue 2 (2025)
V 6 6 doi: 10.36922/ac.338510.36922/ac.3385