Tai Shan Schierenberg Self Portrait as Proteus I, 2008

After a period of producing 'monosyllabic' paintings focusing on subjects such as a single head, a sky, or a cup, and exploring what Germans call das Ding an sich- the qualities of the thing itself- I've recently found a certain narrative quality creeping into my work.

The self-portraits...are a form of narrative self-expression. In the paintings, I have taken on the role of figures from ancient stories, and in the re-enactment of their crises and ambiguities, have found reassurance in the knowledge that the trials of life have always been thus. -Tai Shan Schirenberg, 2008. 

London-based Tai Shan Schierenberg (b. 1962) has an acclaimed practice featuring portraiture and landscape alongside reflective works exploring memory, identity, and belonging. Self Portrait as Proteus I reflects both the process of introspection and an investment in the visual potency of personal and universal histories. Schierenberg invokes Proteus, the shape-shifting sea god of Greek mythology who possessed knowledge of the past, present, and future.  

In works from this series, Schierenberg explored performance and catharsis; the theatricality of their monumental references is matched by an intimate involvement with the trauma and nuance of human nature.

Tai Shan Schierenberg's work is in public collections including the National Portrait Gallery, London; Tate, London; Cambridge University; Merton College, Oxford; The Royal Society, London; The Naughton Gallery at Queen's University, Belfast; BBC England; Chatsworth House, Derbyshire; The Ruth Borchard Collection, London; and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, United States.