Bridget Keating /

Bridget Keating’s series of small portraits appears never ending, images of those we know, don’t know or think we know accumulate to form an assemblage of varied beings. The significance of the portrait is undermined by the of arbitrary selection of subject;  most of the portraits are based on musicians or actors of varying celebrity, viewers are often inclined to name them all, projecting some kind of relationship with the sitter. Ultimately the spectator is left unsure before a mass of types where a sense of likeness can serve both to diminish and emphasize difference. Leather jackets and big hair act as cluestto their identity while titles serve to confirm or blur recognition.

Why Keating paints these figures, is of intrigue, each portrait becoming almost faceless in the crowd of others. The figure is rendered secondary. Through pose, lighting, gesture and technique, Keating uses her subjects as a basis for exploration in figurative painting causing the personal or sentimental significance of the subject to be further undermined. The project gains its power in numbers while the subjects lose their individuality. Keating explores issues of, idolisation, individualism, and recognition in her compact and wonderfully executed portraits. Bridget Keating completed her master’s degree in fine arts from Concordia University in 2008, she has exhibited her work in Montreal and Halifax in both group and solo exhibitions.

Bridget Keating Axl, 2009, oil on panel, 10"x 8"
© Bridget Keating, 2009


vanitas
jan. 21 feb. 21 2010