Ok, so in the description of the Self Portraiture assignment in your syllabus, you'll find the following statement: "The chief objective of these images is to communicate a 'dialogue' between your 'self' and the audience." So, how can you, through images, create a conversation between some part of you (or, at least, the "you" that you are right now) and an audience? I can't tell you specifically how to do that, but we can look at examples in which other artists have managed this.
Let's begin with a somewhat morbid, but extremely apropos example:
Caravaggio
David With The Head Of Goliath
1609
I assure you, there is a self-portrait here. At this point in his life, Caravaggio was in exile. His greatest patron had always been the Catholic Church, but he lived a tumultuous life that often got him in trouble. His high-placed patrons had always been able to protect and pardon him, but when, in 1606, he killed--possibly unintentionally--a man with whom he had quarreled, they could protect him no more. He was an outlaw. So he fled to Naples, outside Roman jurisdiction and protected by the Colonnas family. He continued to work in exile, traveling from city to city outside Roman jurisdiction, but never with the same level of prestige and infamy that he'd had in Rome. So, many please for forgiveness were made by Caravaggio and by others on his behalf, until finally a pardon was extended to him. He painted this image of David with Goliath's head around that time and sent it to the papacy as a gift just before he left Naples for Rome to receive the pardon. Tragically, he died along the way and never received that pardon.
So, let's look again at the painting. Caravaggio doesn't paint himself as David, triumphant underdog defeating a formidable foe. Instead, he paints his self-portrait as the head of Goliath. So, this becomes a very direct example of a self-portrait creating a dialogue between "self" and "audience": Caravaggio seems to be saying, "I am a sinner. I have wronged you and others. My actions are worthy of death. THIS is what I deserve, but I beg you for mercy." In this case, the artist had a very specific audience in mind, which is why this is such a great example to use as an illustration.
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Now, let's take another look at Cindy Sherman. You'll recall that when we talked about her last semester, we looked at work like this:
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #21
1978
Remember that Cindy Sherman has made her entire career in photography an exploration of self-portraiture exclusively. In the images like the one above, remember that she wanted to speak about the archetypal, 2-dimensional, and even stereotypical roles of women throughout much of the history of film. By placing herself in these roles, Sherman seems to be attempting to reclaim these stereotypes and confronting us, DARING us to try to say that she is 2-dimensional.
But Cindy Sherman didn't stop making work 30 years ago. Let's take a look at what she's been up to in the last few years:
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #408
2002
Cindy Sherman
Untitled (Woman In Sun Dress)
2004
Cindy Sherman
Untitled
2008
What do you think is the conversation she's having with us now? She certainly seems to be adopting stereotypes again, though not film stereotypes. What do you think?
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The overwhelming majority of the work by artist Bruce Nauman is designed to make us laugh at the self-importance that seems to be in human nature. By looking at his self-portrait here, don't we get the sense of a man with that very attitude toward life?
Bruce Nauman
Self-Portrait As A Fountain
1966-67, 1970
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Here is a self portrait by painter Zak Smith:
Zak Smith
Most Accurate Self-Portrait To Date
2004
So, how does Smith communicate his "self" to us in this image? Well, he has chosen to surround himself in all the "stuff" that he finds important and that he feels defines who he is: paintings, drawings, and notes taped to the wall, the tools he uses to paint, fast food containers, etc. And he completely embeds his self-portrait in the environment so that one almost seems to emerge from the other. Then, he calls our attention to two other important aspects with the use of color: his mohawk, and the graphic T-shirt. Looking at this, we get a sense of how Zak Smith thought of himself in 2004.
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This is a series of self-portraits I did in 2007. The series was titled Stand Straight:
I have scoliosis, which essentially means a curvature of the spine. In my case, my right side grew faster than my left side and, as a result, my spine is curved and my body is out-of-alignment. In this series, I wanted to create a dialogue with the audience that would demonstrate the deformity and pain caused by the curvature as well as the humiliation endured over the years as a result of others demanding that I "stand straight". So, I painted a line down the center of my chest and back that follows the curvature of my spine and spent the entire session in front of the camera making attempts to get that line completely straight. The series actually has 25 images to coincide with the 25 degree curvature of my spine.
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But, remember the quote I gave you in the syllabus: “If what is called a self-portrait depends on the fact that it is called “self-portrait,” an act of naming should allow or entitle me to call just about anything a self-portrait, not only any drawing (“portrait” or not) but anything that happens to me, anything by which I can be affected or let myself be affected.” —Jacques Derrida
So, is it possible to create a self-portrait without using an actual image of your body? Below is an example of the work of artist Sanford Biggers:
Sanford Biggers
Mandala Of The B-Bodhisattva II
2000
Sanford Biggers
Stills from the video Battle Of The Burrows
2000
Sanford Biggers grew up in Harlem and became very involved in the early hip-hop movement. This was extremely influential on his life and shaped who he has become. Additionally, as a young man, Biggers travelled to asia and studied many of the ancient religions and philosophies there. He became just as effected by these studies as he had been by early hip-hop. In 2000, in reaction to what he perceived to be the "death" of hip-hop (for Biggers, early hip-hop was all about empowering African Americans, and now it has become a platform for sell-outs who harken back to degrading minstrel shows), Biggers created this dance floor which I see as a self portrait. He created a hip-hop dance floor patterned after Tibetan mandala designs, co-mingling his two most integral influences into one entity. In the video, which you can see HERE, he invited people to participate in a hip-hop style dance-off on the floor.
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And here, below, is an image that I consider to be a self-portrait....but I'll leave the discussion of WHY that is the case until next time we meet in class.
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