Aspex Portsmouth

Week 8, Catherine Yass, 40 Stories

Les Buckingham, Director 1984-1999

This exhibition was initiated by Aspex curator Lisa Moran, who both curated the show and also edited the beautiful publication, which is still available. Yass’ interest at the time examined the idea of the portrait and as usual with her practice, the artist went back to basics and asked some fundamental questions about portraiture. She can be credited with introducing a new and subtle psychological element into the genre. Using her signature technique of printing images for lightboxes that used the negative side of an analogue slide, the electric blue in the portraits redirect the viewer to the specific ambience of the work. 

A major part of the show was a commision to make a work for Aspex itself. I had always wanted to start a collection of art works for the Trust but funds were never available. Working with Yass enabled the gallery to initiate its first commission, one which is still owned by the Trust. 

The way Yass carried out the commission demonstrates her quietly radical approach to portraiture. A portrait of a gallery should, she suggested, include looking. She chose the beautiful south facing window as the subject to be looked at. The next question was who to do the looking? In line with her aesthetic it should be someone integral to the gallery. So our wonderful treasurer, Henry Mundy, volunteered. Then a member of the public was needed, so Yass asked one of the first persons to walk by the gallery, and he agreed. So now the gallery owns a portrait of itself, of two interested parties looking, and looking up at the window in an echo of what earlier Methodist worshippers would have looked at. It is a work about looking and about the spirit of looking. 

For more on artist and filmmaker Catherine Yass, click here.