"Self Portrait in C Minor"

"Self Portrait in C Minor"

Kerry Wright, 1984

Oils on Canvas

90cm x 60cm (3ft x 2ft)

In the 1980s, when I was in my 30s, I completed several  paintings incorporating an abstract style characterized by heavily applied impasto paint, utilizing a palette of strident primary colours. It was a style of painting with which one could enjoy oneself. In fact, I'd not had so much fun with my painting since the days of finger-painting in kindergarten. Certainly, it provided a welcome respite from the meticulously rendered portraits I had primarily been painting up until that time. The abstracts of the 1980s came as a liberating breath of fresh air for me. I was enamored of the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff at the time, particularly his Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.18. The "C minor" of this self portrait's title is dedicated to that exquisite piece of music. I hope I have captured something of the full richness of its deeply lachrymose intensity in my painting. I'll leave you to decide how that equates to myself, as I was, at that time in my life.