Janusz Dukszta’s Sardonic Portraits

Commissioned portraits, particularly those produced since photography took over the cultural role of capturing likeness, are generally dismissed by curators and art historians as either vanity pieces or as dull and bureaucratic official records unless the artist executing them is particularly skilled (a la John Singer Sargent) or the sitter is particularly important.[1] Because they need the commissioner’s approval on the final piece, portraitists usually shape their presentation of the sitter to match their self-image and aspirations. Thus, commissioned portraits tend to flatter their sitter in order to present an acceptable public face, befitting the sitter’s position and social status, to the world. While some are simply competent depictions of their sitter, for the most part, commissioned portraits, being either tacky, bland, humorless, pompous, or otherwise aesthetically uninteresting, are not worth sustained attention in themselves and are only of interest as objects of social or cultural history. Why then is UTAC hosting an exhibition drawn from the collection of nearly a hundred commissioned portraits of Janusz Dukszta, his family and his friends? One of the key things that makes the collection of portraits gathered together as Portrait of a Patron especially interesting is that, in contrast to our general expectations about commissioned portraiture’s relation to flattery, a number of these works take what Janusz has described as a sardonic approach to their subject. In other words, these images do not merely poke fun at Janusz but derisively mock him.

Mockery of the sitter, of which the sitter is also aware, is highly unusual and significant; unlike most commissioned portraits, the works from Janusz’ collection that I want to examine are distinctly unflattering.[2] In these sardonic portraits, Janusz allowed the commissioned artists the freedom to use his image and body as a vehicle for their own concerns. Rather than demanding final say on the character of the works he let the artists determine the works’ approaches to their subject.[3] By bracketing out the flattery which is so often central to the work of portraiture, Janusz commissioned a body of work that functions not as a vanity project but as an important archive of contemporary Canadian art.  Artists responded to this freedom by mocking Janusz in a number of different ways that are worth examining in detail for what they tell us about the collection as a whole.

For example, Oliver Girling’s 1989 painting, Impostor, takes a direct approach and lays out its insult to Janusz in its title.[4] The painting also spells out its accusation across the surface of the image; running through the center of the painting is curved line of red and blue shapes dividing the image in half. These are 3D letters that originally spelled impasto (thickly applied paint) which have been over-painted with flat white letters to read “impostor.” While the title and the text would seem to refer to Janusz, Girling has suggested that there is some ambiguity about the target of their accusation. As Janusz tells it, when he asked about the title, Girling replied that there were two figures in the painting and it was only Janusz’s outsized ego that made him assume that the title applied to the depiction of him and not to the image of a naked Girling lying on the couch in the foreground. However, while the space of the image is ambiguous, as I read it, the subject of the image’s critique is clear.

Imposter presents the viewer with a distorted, highly theatrical and highly mediated space. In doing so, the painting comments on representation and mediation as part of its portrayal of Janusz. There are stage curtains and lights framing the painting as artificial and posed and a camera in lower right corner highlighting the mediated nature of the image. The camera is focused on the naked figure of Girling in the lower centre of the painting. Janusz sits upstage in the image holding a remote control and pointing it at a TV set. The TV is on a crate and is broadcasting static with a thin red cross superimposed on top; the image of Girling has failed to come through. Janusz appears to be in shadow and is sitting sideways on the chair with his head turned towards the viewer. Janusz is outsized compared to Girling and his masklike red face is in sharp contrast to Girling’s lying exposed and vulnerable in the foreground. Janusz is clearly presented as an impostor. However, the painting also suggests that despite Girling’s attempts to lay himself bare, the transmission will not come through, and thus, in a sense, he will be an impostor, impersonating an artist.

Phil Richards’ 1990 piece, Janusz as Bernini (Altared States), has a similar engagement with theatricality and mediation to Girling’s painting but uses a strategy of deliberate over-inflation in its somewhat gentler mockery of Janusz.[5] The piece is a painted three-dimensional construction modeled on the interior of the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome which contains Bernini’s St Teresa in Ecstasy. The image of the interior is framed by faux marble columns flanking an archway opening into the interior of the chapel. Janusz stands in the archway with his body facing Bernini’s sculpture which lies in the background behind a pulled back curtain. Janusz is elegantly dressed in a blue pin-striped suit and his yellow raincoat, jauntily tossed over his shoulder, billows behind him in an angular cloud reminiscent of Bernini’s abstract baroque drapery. Janusz is looking over his shoulder towards the viewer. In his left hand he holds up a book, reproducing the faces from the statue, that blocks his view of the sculpture. Janusz appears grandiose, the awkward pose with one foot lifted removes the gravity from his figure and the heavenly light highlighting his face is over the top. We could read the composition as arguing that Janusz is incapable of directly experiencing the sculpture preferring instead the appearance of cultivation provided by an illustration. Implies Janusz is a baroque figure but one out of time aspiring towards but unable to get there directly (untimely)  transcendence /ecstasy? – vanity The pieces’ staging raises questions about the relation between the viewer and a work of art. See piece as fantasy in which Janusz inspired by book to dream himself as Bernini-esque. Yet the realism of the construction – its actual depth and physicality make it hard to see the piece as a daydream reverie and instead positions it as a performing an auto-critique on Janusz by taking his puffed up self-importance at face value and putting him in an environment that matches his pretensions.

In contrast to Richards’ strategy of over-inflation, Charles Pachter’s image, Janusz In A Fit, deflates Janusz by offering an unflattering naturalistic depiction of Janusz sitting in loveseat. While elegantly dressed, wearing vest, tie and white shirt, the painting diminishes Janusz. Arms spread across back of couch. Head turned towards viewer. Left side of face in shadow. Sitting on left side of image facing right. Foreshortening of hands and arms. Mouth slightly open eyes glowering. Unflattering depiction – lack of emotional control. Fit suggest loss of self. Childishness. In the throes of a childish temper tantrum.

Not towering rage of a powerful figure but a fit

Michael Merrill’s 1984 painting, Janusz in Bedlam, Adds a level of allegorical mockery to its unflattering depiction of its subject.

The image is painted in an overall blue tone creating mood and heightening sense of artificiality. Janusz is sitting naked on the floor in the foreground with his legs spread and his body sagging. He is wearing only a watch. His gaze is downward. Small highlights in red and yellow on Janusz’s flesh. Sitting in front of an open triptych showing the stations of the cross. The reference is to a series of works commissioned by Janusz from Merrill. Bedlam – name for psychiatric hospital in London. Notorious madhouse. – reference to Janusz’s profession and also given image in background to his avocation as a collector. Suggesting  his collecting will / has driven him mad. Collecting as madness – unable to engage with images. Beaten down and stripped bare by them.

Evan Penny’s  2 related works, 27 Heads and Broken Head Fragments, offer alternate takes on Janusz. 27 Heads is a 3x3x3 cube of cast concrete Janusz heads mounted on a steel scaffolding with metal spikes running through them; it is an assemblage of Janusz heads on sticks. The heads all face forward and the style of the heads is vaguely reminiscent of Soviet commemorative sculpture. Reference to propaganda. We could read the multiple depictions of Janusz as an attempt to capture the multifaceted aspects of his character except the multiple heads are all the same. – conformity – Janusz as stock character – pile of heads

Broken Head Fragments Mold of heads for 27 heads broken into fragments and cast in bronze. – finished with Janusz – broke the mold? Violence – disfigurement of Janusz – largest piece right ear and cheek. Done with him – fired as a client?

Taken together the sardonic portraits offer not just a scathing depiction of Janusz but also reveal the artists’ relation to Janusz. Taken the opportunity to create reflections on the patron artist relation free from the need to appease the patron and instead expose the conflicts and ambiguities that are central to that relation. Relation not just to Janusz but to the artists’ practices.

Suggest these works provide an interpretative framework for seeing the rest of the works in the show; the portraits are not just Janusz’s narcissistic self reflections but instead reflect the artists’ engagements with Janusz, their works, and themselves.

[1] For example, Velasquez’s Las Meninas, considered one of the most significant paintings in the canon of Western art, is a portrait of the Infanta and her retinue. However, the paintings’ importance is based on its depiction of a key structure of Western representation not its image of the princess.

[2] Some of Goya’s portraits of Spanish nobility could be considered sardonic but the sitters are generally thought to be oblivious to this aspect of the portraits.

[3] This statement simplifies the more complex negotiations between Janusz and the artists involving subject matter and themes for the work. However, having listened to both Janusz and several of the artists describe the process, I believe it captures the spirit of the relationship.

[4] Impostor is one of several paintings Girling made for Janusz.

[5] Janusz as Berniniis Janusz’s title gives for the piece, Altared States is Phil Richards’.