Think of Corinne Thiessen’s work as an elaborate mise-en-scène, in which kinetic sculptures, stop-motion animations, performances, paintings, and social media come together to create an expanded Absurdist Theatre. A slew of alter-egos attend cult meetings, office parties, and protests – these are a smattering of the characters Thiessen employs to create an expanded theatrical space that blurs the boundaries between life and art. Thiessen’s recent paintings continue along this theatrical line. She begins with magazine ads depicting corporate culture, lifestyle, fashion, and leisure to which she applies intuitive layers of paint. In lush hues her
signature veneer of audacious humour sets the stage. Accountants,realtors, dentists, models, and pin-ups don face paint, masks, costumes, and prosthetics. Eyes and mouths pierce the plane; maniacal expressions of glee and devotion made more apparent through the process of erasure. It is this process of masking that reveals an unsettling truth – empty promises of happiness and beauty so easily disrupted by a thin layer of paint. At the heart of Thiessen’s work there is a space where two mirrors reflect back on one another; infinite reflections in a closed loop. Thiessen gives the sense that we are in a play, within a play, within a play...

Christina Cuthbertson