Loréne Bourguignon

Since 1989, I have been making self-portraits, in pencil, paint, and graphics. Polaroid pictures have, for many years, served as an expedient device in making these portraits. The Polaroid shots initially resulted in drawings and photocopies. The Polaroids are usually taken at random: coincidence plays a significant role. This entails that there is considerable distance between myself and the portrait. My aim in making self portraits is not to document the overly personal. At first, the portrait is virtually “empty”, the distance between it and myself is as large as it can be. By painting in thin layers on top of one another, such distance is maintained, while the portrait at the same time nonetheless acquires its own appearance. I finaly recreate my own face