Under Saturn

Description:

Under Saturn was an installation by Gordon Payne comprising a series of “mirror” portraits produced over several years. These self-portraits depicted only the head and neck, with the face consistently contorted. The motif recurred across various two-dimensional media—photographs, drawings, egg tempera paintings—as well as in three-dimensional forms such as cast lead.

Devoid of corpus or context, the cause of Payne’s grimace across the suite of works was ambiguous, yet the unrelenting repetition reflected on the nature of obsession. The titles of individual components expanded the work’s meaning and guided the viewer by alluding to psychological states and ontological concerns. The installation also served as an exploration of the relationship between visual work and text, with elements of Under Saturn previewed in 1987 in the no. 44 issue of The Capilano Review.

An artist talk took place at Western Front on September 14, 1989 at 8:00 p.m.