The Canadian Portrait Today
Iris Kiewiet, “Portrait2″, Acrylics on canvas, 2008, 16X20″
Iris Kiewiet, “Portrait3″, Acrylics on canvas, 2008, 16X20″
Iris Kiewiet, “Garden Crescent”, Acrylics on canvas, 2008, 36X48″
Iris Kiewiet, “River 2″, Acrylics on canvas, 2008, 32X40″
The Canadian Portrait Today
A love song
A necessity is dormant in this title. Not just because the Portrait Gallery is pending to go to Edmonton or Calgary, instead of Ottawa. The capital city has a beautiful location in the former building of The U.S. Embassy, and yet is still wavering to make it a home base. Having the gallery in Ottawa, can create a point of reference for historical reasons. And more important is it for creating a distinct tomorrow. What are our values, in a time of change. What are our borders when ice is melting in The North. What is our identity in the shape shift of migration. How much of the raw survival that came with the settlers, is still in our blood. After all that pioneering, Canada is still forming and shaping it’s face. An interesting question may be: What would this face look like?
A work that comes into mind that could illustrate that, is Jakub Dolejs’ “Escape to West Germany, 1972″. See the link below this article. A situated portrait of a young women with her baby on the move. A beautiful print, that is bigger then life and draws you right in. It clearly represents the migrating side of Canada. Even though the work refers to another geographic place, it reads as something we understand. Something that we, or our ancestors have experienced. The National Gallery of Canada has it in it’s permanent collection since 2004, thus acknowledging this language of seekers and survivors.
It is such a strong portrait, and yet, because of the setting of the woman and baby, the drama pulls you away from her face. Makes the faces less important to read. The strength lies in the portrait of the baby. The baby that is bold headed in the cold and despite the urge of the situation, has the hand flexed comfortably. Trusting mommy and not seeing the circumstances. Then, the alarm bells go of when watching this scene. The baby is not a real baby, it is a doll. Through this discovery, even at the speed of split seconds, you end up looking very different at the face of mother. With loads of new questions. How powerful her portrait becomes.
The mother – child portrait “Morning Sky” is less illustrative then Dolejs’ work but shows a similar dual reality between the mother and the child. Here, the child seems more sharp and grounded than the mother. The mothers look on her face is distant. Maybe she is even looking for another reality and is able to move between worlds. In the geographic sence as an immigrant. Debating the different values and landscapes and translating them towards the child. My work is sometimes refered as ‘ephemeral’. Which means not having a permanent state. Happiness is described as ephemeral, as humans can have varying shades of happiness and disappointment. In relation to this the other world would be a haven where answers obide. And this is where I find my imagery. Where I find answers to my questions. Something that feels natural to me. You can see this back in many of my portraits. A dialog that always plays is ‘how can this finer, mysterious presence, be grounded and real’?
Communicating with Canadians for me in 2004, at my first contact, was an eyeopener. A main reason to spend some time in Canada, was to explore, what the landscape would do for my paintings. The overload of culture in Europe was limiting me, suffocating me. Not just culture, renewing, designing, cynisism, conceptualising everything. It brought fear in my creative process and I new it wasn’t mine. So, communicating with Canadians. I was amazed with the expansiveness that was in so many people. It felt like Canadians had so much more confidence. Also a humbleness, a knowing there is something bigger. The landscape? God? Universe? Prairies? They spoke my language. Sometimes it seemed like I was talking to myself, or that others could read my mind. The impact on my artwork was huge. Literally, I painted bigger. Also the liveliness of the canvas was a big treat. As a dialog is shaped and formed to a story, or a person.
In May 2009 I will be in Canada for 3 years as a resident, with one year as a permanent resident. Painting has supported me, financially to make it though the winters, also spiritually, an anker that just stayed with me. Now I can see that this Canadian face, is becoming mature, visible, solid. The portraits have an innosence. A vulnerability. A strength. In ‘Caterpillar’, I came to the question, do I leave either the figure, or the surroundings out. Since they have a similar ‘charge’, energy, meaning. And I can’t. The one doesn’t go without the other in my paintings. The landscape needs the portrait. The person needs his/her surroundings. And that to me is the Canadian Portrait Today. A deep wisdom that comes from the land and permeates into all relationships we have.
http://www.jakubdolejs.com/artwork/escape_to_west_germany_1972