366 is a profil en trois-quart times three hundred and sixty-six different days and states of mind. The missing quarter is filled in by the emotional charge of the moment. 366 is an intimate journal on automatic emotion – an almost daily, compulsive, obstinate and wilful repetition of the same outlined façade with nose, then eyes, and a moustache. It is sometimes also with hairdo, headgear, eyebrows or eyelashes, in all conceivable variants. The series is a conveyor-belt work of likewise transient emotions, from king to child and with all kinds of puppets and props in between.
366 is a collection of self-portraits in which the gaze turns inward, in which unforeseen and unrecognizable mirror images arise, in which fantasy and emotion are sought, sometimes taking over. It is searching for the soul, seeing oneself as another, as neither mask nor mirror, as man and/or woman, Narcissus or Echo, no longer not weeping, with brush in the water or a dry needle. The paper sheets swell, absorbing the colour and the sentiment of the day.
366, an artist’s book plus an original drawing
366 is the result of a four-year, almost daily drawing practice in which 366 different appearances of the self were created. The portraits on paper were created performatively and intuitively with the materials at hand, such as coloured pencil, marker, pen, paint, watercolour, make-up, glitter or food scraps. They leave transient traces of an introspective look, an emotion, a fantasy. The character stares at himself sideways and each time ends up with a different mood, manipulation, color. An elongated process that from now on can see itself 366 times bundled in one box. The unfolding of the box releases the same number of shades, reflections, props and techniques.
Leaf through 366 and attend the scarlet theatrical play.
366, Jonathan Paepens, 2021
collection of 366 portrait drawings on paper
edition of 366
self-published and presented as a slide show exhibition in BOEKS in 2021
on sale for €250
cardboard cassette box (51 x 34 x 5 cm) containing one original drawing (50 x 32.5 cm) and 365 high-quality reproduction prints (47 x 32.5 cm), with cover, certificate and text
graphic design by Michelle Daniëlse and printed by Cultura, Wetteren, BE
You can order the book including the original drawing via the website of Jonathan Paepens.
