David Fairbairn – Auto Portrait No. 20

Etching and drypoint
Image size: 33 x 28
Paper size: 76 x 56 cm
PCA Print Commission 2017

I have been making copper etchings and drypoints since 1999, as part of a much wider drawing and painting practice. Portraiture has occupied a central role since 1984. Although this etching Auto Portrait No. 20 is a self-portrait the decision to work directly with a sitter is fundamental to my practice. The length of time spent with the subject, the day to day stopping and starting of a work as a series develops over time, and even the subtle daily differences that exist in both subject and artist are factors that contribute to the interpretation of the work. Much of the impetus for my work draws on an abiding dialogue with the great Western figurative traditions of the past including Goya, Munch, Freud and Giacometti.