JulieHarms.

Yearly self-portrait 2015

Yearly self-portrait. 2015.

Acrylic on red paper. 29×39 cm .

J’ai décidé de peindre un portrait de moi une fois par an. Comme une nature morte humaine.

I decided to paint a portrait of myself once every year. Like a human still life. The French, refer to it as a “nature morte”, something that is in decay. How will I look like in a year ? In ten years ?  

7 responses to “Yearly self-portrait 2015”

  1. Claudia McGill Avatar
    Claudia McGill

    Wonderful. The painting and the idea, both.

    1. julie harms Avatar
      julie harms

      Thank you very much for your comments Claudia, there are always appreciated. I visited the Modern Tate several years ago, one room had a fast forward video of a fruit bowl. Since Time was fast forwarded, I could witness the fruit rapidly decaying and almost dissapearing in some kind of moldy dust, in just a couple of seconds. It really impressed me. I am not sure if the work is still on display, but if I ever visit the museum again, I will certainly look for it.

  2. karen silve Avatar
    karen silve

    I think that’s a great idea. I just saw the Elaine de Kooning exhibition “Portraits” at the Smithsonian National Museum of Art and was blown away. I thought too, that I should do a portrait every now and then of not only me, but my partner in life.

    1. julie harms Avatar
      julie harms

      Exactly ! When I started painting myself, I realised that it was more than just piling up a group of colors on a surface in a way that it would look like me. There was the way I felt like at the moment, the thoughts I carried that I believe are surely behind the strokes of my brush. I think a self portrait is like taking a picture of your mind at a certain time of your life. It becomes your own personal heirloom.

  3. outsideauthority Avatar
    outsideauthority

    I like how you’ve set it against the background. Does the background have any special meaning to you?

    1. julie harms Avatar
      julie harms

      Hello, The background for the portrait is a painting of mine called “composition Florentine”. You’ll find it on my blog, It was inspired by Gozzoli’s Magi. Gozzoli is an Italian painter I absolutely love. Thank you for asking and dropping by my blog.

  4. marktravelnotes Avatar
    marktravelnotes

    Thank you for sharing for art.

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