48 Portraits (2016)
For the 1972 Venice Biennale German pavilion, Gerhard Richter painted 48 Portraits of male figures from a white European cultural past using a grayscale standardized format, uniform composition, and soft rendering showing few wrinkles to create homogeneous anonymous entities. Twenty years later, Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein replied to Richter's series with a cycle of 48 portraits depicting exclusively women of historic influence in fiery red hues.
48 Portraits, Freeman's response to both Richter and Helnwein, contains equal representation of female and male figures all born, lived in, or somehow associated with Winnipeg, Canada, the artist's birthplace - the famous and not famous, Caucasian, Aboriginal, Christian, Aetheist, Jewish, writers, business people, artists, musicians, and politicians, philosophers, and a thief. The format is ¼ the size of Richter's, in grayscale with details and visible brushwork to create a variety and individuality.
