Marianne Gerlinger | Revealing Through Reflection

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Marianne Gerlinger, “Revealing Through Reflection,” 2022

(courtesy of the Artist)

During the Covid years everything, especially in the early months, was so alien. The isolation and fear of the unknown caused introspection and acknowledgement of our life’s possible end to something previously unrecognized. Oddly, a unified feeling within humanity emerged as everyone was vulnerable. Then, in typical human fashion, came the conflicts over how preventative precautions would be followed, or not. Fractured times continue as we maneuver in a new version of our old lives.

I felt that a way to record my movement through this time would be through self-portraits. As I began, I found the earlier ones were too illustrational. Do you need a face for a self-portrait? And as others were feeling similar doubts and concern did it need to be my face at all or would paintings depicting emotion be more useful? It occurred to me that my past work is also autobiographical and have added one older piece to give context to a newer one.

Presented here are some of the iterations.