A gallery wall is painted in vertical blocks of pale yellow, pale green, acid green, pale pink and baby blue providing the backdrop for a series of portraits with antique style wooden frames. The portraits rest at various heights and proximities; some are hung against just one colour while others sit on the border where two blocks meet. Each block of colour is reflected in the adjacent portrait’s colouration.
A gallery wall is painted in vertical blocks of pale pink, baby blue, eggshell blue, and pale yellow providing the backdrop for a series of portraits with antique style wooden frames. The portraits rest at various heights and proximities; some are hung against just one colour while others sit on the border where two blocks meet. Each block of colour is reflected in the adjacent portrait’s colouration.
Five painted portraits with muted tones begin to pop against the pale green and acid green wall panels. As the blocks of colour are reflected faintly in each portrait’s colouration, a tonal theme begins to thread the disparate images together.
Three portraits are hung between acid green and pale pink wall panels. The green eyes of a pencil sketched man and the rosy cheeks of two pale skinned figures tone with the painted blocks of colour.
Two portraits are hung between pale pink and baby blue wall panels. The rosy skin of a young girl in one portrait tones with roses in the neighboring figure’s hat. The open blue sky stretching out above the child resonates with the rich silky fabric of the adult’s clothing.
A gallery wall is painted in vertical blocks of pale pink, baby blue, eggshell blue, and pale yellow providing the backdrop for a series of portraits with antique style wooden frames. The portraits rest at various heights and proximities; some are hung against just one colour while others sit on the border where two blocks meet. Each block of colour is reflected in the adjacent portrait’s colouration.
A gallery wall is painted in vertical blocks of baby blue, eggshell blue, pale yellow, light fuchsia and dusty yellow providing the backdrop for a series of portraits with antique style wooden frames. The portraits rest at various heights and proximities; some are hung against just one colour while others sit on the border where two blocks meet. Each block of colour is reflected in the adjacent portrait’s colouration.
Five painted portraits with washed out tones begin to pop against the pale yellow and light fuchsia wall panels. As the blocks of colour are reflected faintly in each portrait’s colouration, a tonal theme begins to thread the disparate images together.
Five painted portraits with washed out tones begin to resonate against the light fuchsia and dust yellow wall panels. The sunset sky behind a sailor tones with a businessman’s suit and a yellow satin dress echoes the yellowing skin of an elderly nun.
A gallery wall is painted in vertical blocks of dusty blue, wheaty yellow, pale green, acid green and light pink providing the backdrop for a series of portraits with antique style wooden frames. The portraits rest at various heights and proximities; some are hung against just one colour while others sit on the border where two blocks meet. Each block of colour is reflected in the adjacent portrait’s colouration.
Nine portraits hang against dusty blue, wheaty yellow, and pale green wall panels. The grey blues of ageing men’s hair tone with silk garments and yellow and green undertones surface between various skin shades.
Six portraits hang against dusty blue and wheaty yellow wall panels. The grey blues of ageing men’s hair tone with silk garments and yellow and green undertones surface between various skin shades.

28 PORTRAITS (2024)

To bring new meaning and life to these portraits, I’ve created a painted ground from colour-matched samples of the portraits’ paint. The painted panels suggest correspondences between the portraits. They remind me of my work Steve’s Vinyl (2011), where I painted floor-to-ceiling colour sections to match the dominant colours of the album covers.


These unidentified sitters, and perhaps some imaged sitters from the late 19th to mid-20th c. have mostly had a life before they became props. The dust, gashes and touch-ups are evidence of their life. 


Cathy Busby
April 4, 2024; revised Nov 9 2024

 

Related Projects:
Steve's Vinyl
On Que in Pantone Colours of the Year
Acquired in 1964
About Face
Atrium
Themes / Topics:
Collections / archives
Commemoration / remembering / memory / memorializing
Re-categorizing / re-ordering
Forms / Mediums:
Painting
Wall panels