Introspecting the Self Through Art: Highlighting Breanna Gordon’s Newest Exhibition
Photography by Paige Thompson. Courtesy Tache Gallery.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Breanna Gordon, a Queen’s BFA alumna and practicing artist of seven years, about her recently debuted solo art exhibition “Introspect” at Tache Gallery London. Gordon summarized her art practice by saying that she’s “always sort of pulled inspiration from art historical movements, specifically the British Pre-Raphaelites and the Italian Baroque. But this exhibition is a combination of both of those things.” She stated that she is heavily inspired by artists such as William Morris and Caravaggio, for her patterned and darker works respectively.
Breanna’s work connects to her personal journey with mental health, as she reflects on her experiences with anxiety and derealization through the dreamworld-like visuals seen in her artwork. This relationship between mental health and art is tightly linked to her creation process. As Breanna explained herself, “because of my experience with anxiety, that's why I paint with almost-like hyper realism because it's like the ultimate exercise of control. I have control all the way through the making process from the beginning to the end. I see the image in my mind of what I want to paint and then I just have to make it…Like if I can't control what's going on in my thoughts, in my brain, like externally, what's happening in the world, I can at least control this one thing.”
It was interesting to hear how Breanna’s artwork, although very personal and introspective, contains important communal aspects as well. The titles that she chooses for her artwork, such as “That’s Tea” and “I Love You More When I’m Sad,” are often sourced directly from close family and friends, or from her social media feed, and are then used as an entryway for audiences to understand her work. Jokingly, Breanna stated “an element of my practice is taking quotes from daily conversations with my friends and family. Like I'll just take text messages, no one's safe.” For Breanna, having an entry point for viewers to connect with her work, “is really important…to break down the barrier between the work and the viewer. Those titles help people to form their own opinion and understand it from their own perspective.”
From talking with Breanna, I learned how interrelated many of these pieces were to each other, as she reflected on the progression of her experience with her mental well-being and disassociation from reality. Her pieces; “Deep Chaos Within,” “Perpetual Inbetweeness” and “Burn Cycle,” directly connect to this symbolism in her work. “Deep Chaos Within,” represents the confusing beginning stage, “Perpetual Inbetweeness,” reflects the murky middle stages when she felt very lost, and ,“Burn Cycle,” represents the clarity that Breanna experiences now since becoming more knowledgeable about herself and the different mental states she experiences. More specifically, her art pertains to what it means to Breanna to maintain her self-identity when her essence of being is in a state of limbo. Breanna hopes that others who may be struggling in similar situations as her when she created these pieces are able to look at her art and resonate with the different cycles and emotions she has portrayed in her work. She also described the unique insight into her own practice that this solo exhibition offered her, “[it] was really interesting to be able to see them [the works] all together because they sort of have relationships between each other that I did not see before.”
Breanna has returned from London where she was previously residing to earn her Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University and become an art teacher. She stated that an inspiration for her was “working with Tache. An all female team who support emerging artists and I think working with people who are really invested in contemporary emerging artists is really something that I want to do in the future… As an artist and educator, I think that's something I’m committed to.”
Learn more about Breanna Gordon and her art exhibition “Introspect” at https://www.breannagordon.com/.
