Self-Portrait

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Perreault had no formal artistic training but his enthusiasm for art history and carefree attitude emboldened him to venture into a wide range of styles and mediums. He was most interested in employing repurposed materials to create paintings, sculpture, or performance art, which often served as a form of art criticism themselves. Paintings produced over thrift-store artworks, binding two wheelbarrows together with fishing line, or breaking rocks and mending them back together were for Perreault not just artistic output but a humorous conceptual statement on the value of fine art. In Self Portrait from 2009, Perreault’s humor is revealed. Featuring a deep black ground with collaged letters and string atop its surface, the work is a playful alternative to the self-portrait genre. Beginning at the letter “J,” the string directs viewer’s eyes to the next letter and the next, finally spelling out the artist’s full name: John Lucas Perreault. The scattered placement of the letters directs the string to zigzag across the work’s surface, ultimately creating a geometric form—a humorist jab at geometric abstraction. The painting is an excellent example of Perreault distilling his enthusiasm for art history, his sharp and quick-witted criticism, and his interest in unorthodox materials.

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