1980 MINUS TEN

The unveiling of Vaudreuil-Dorion's Lumin'Art 2025-26 outdoor exhibition happened on December 5th. Artists were invited to submit a staging theme for the annual installation and this time it was awarded to artist Philippe Corriveau.

 

The project he conceived is so much fun, in part because it's very personal. We were invited to create a self-portrait inspired by the 1980's and/or Andy Warhol. I associate Warhol to earlier years, the 50's and 60's. When I was doing my BFA at Concordia University in the seventies, Warhol was definitely in the top ten when professors discussed the pop art movement. Since the 1970's were more exciting for me than the eighties, I decided to base my self-portrait on that decade.

 

We were encouraged to refer to photos of our past selves. I came across three black and white ones that I liked. Like many during this period, I wore T-shirts that I tie-dyed myself, faded jeans or long skirts. A designer brand back then meant lying in a bathtub filled with water while wearing jeans, and letting them dry on your body so they ended up as tight as possible. I never had patience for that but knew some who did. They could barely walk and I daren't mention all the other more serious medical side effects that arose from this process!

I wore my hair long and had green contacts for a while that were other worldly, but after experiencing a corneal abrasion that left me peering through pea soup fog for three days, I decided that contacts were no longer an option for me. Glasses in the seventies were... 

HUGE. 

They hid half the face. Those of us who wore them looked pretty good because they worked miracles as a mask. I later married wearing the ones shown in the photos below and when I look at my wedding album, I'm mortified. And yet, these pictures reveal who I was at the time. While the two unexpected double exposures below are fascinating, I chose to be inspired by all three photos for the self-portrait. 

 

  

 

 

Specifications:

Dimensions of the artwork had to be 24x24 inches. High contrast compositions using yellow, magenta-pink, orange, light blue, green and lilac were the colours specified for the project, and this for an interesting reason. Portraits of all participating artists are reproduced and installed on a structure resembling a Rubik's Cube at the 405 Park. Original works are supposed to be simultaneously displayed at the municipal hub.

I become quite obsessed when creating self-portraits. So much introspection happens during the process. In this particular painting, nostalgia and the profound emotions of a young adult trying to figure out the meaning of life was added to the mix. It's not easy being green but I still chose its various hues, mainly gradations of lime as my dominant skin colour. Although my glasses were already big, I chose to exaggerate both them and my eyes even more. One of the advantages of working with black and white pictures is that elements can become any colour you choose. I made my glasses bright yellow.  

 

The resulting acrylic portrait is a somewhat quirky entity, rendered in a blotchy expressionist style. Large, penetrating orbs, the eyes of an artist, absorb and feel all that they see. A much older woman from the future looks at herself in a mirror of the past. If I had one thing to tell her, it would be to relax, something I still can't do.

 

 1980 minus ten 

(The title was suggested by my friend Monica Brinkman). 

 

I had a lot of fun creating a little video based on the painting. 

 

 

Here's what my work looked like on the final installation. The entire exhibition is stunning. Check out the city's Facebook page for a video of the unveiling.