Self-portraiture Sells

Yesterday the world record for the most expensive photograph sold at auction was broken. And it was a self-portrait – Cindy Sherman's Untitled #96 went for $3.9 million at Christie's. Story here.

And the top lot of the night, was another self-portrait – specifically Andy Warhol's Self Portrait (1963-1964), which sold for a massive $38.4m. (Although not classed as a photograph, it's is interesting to note that it is made with his famous photo-booth pictures.) Story here.

It seems that self-portraiture is receiving a lot of attention on the market. Couple this with Susan Bright's recent and well-received publication Auto Focus, and it would appear that there is a real growth of interest into this sub-genre. 

I can see this being a benefit to me, particularly for a London exhibition held within a high-interest time and location for the photographic and art worlds. Hopefully my work can stand out as something original, whilst still being associated with a style that is sought after. Who knows, maybe a wealthy art collector will take a liking. I'm just saying.. 

Jenny Saville

In collaboration with fashion photographer Glen Luchford, Jenny Saville produced the photographic series Closed Contact. These striking and graphic self-portraits (Saville was the model and had directive control) arise from her continued interest in confronting perceptions of feminine beauty - often through large-scale painted nudes, placing emphasis on flesh and voluptuousness.

Her ideas for this series arose from her observations of cosmetic surgery (she witnessed several operations), and her contemplation of the culture which surrounds it. I understand that she was struck by the idea of being able to create beauty through a surgeon's knife – to manipulate, alter, cut, and push about the body at will, and also the apparent normality of it all to the clients and doctors. Her standpoint isn't negative or critical of cosmetic surgery however, she is simply fascinated by its application. (You can see Saville's observations and opinions on the matter, in this documentary about her work – go from 7:07).

Her response was then to produce the Closed Contact series, in which she moulded and manipulated her body on a large sheet of perspex with Luchford taking photographs from below.

Closed Contact #14 (above), and #8

Interesting to note here that Saville had a mirror positioned beneath her to assist her with posing, (as seen in this video clip - from 0:48) presumably so that she could arrange her face and body to the desired, and quite extreme, level of manipulation. Just so as I have used a two-way mirror to find and capture that exact moment when my face is transfigured to a dramatically altered expression. 

What remains unclear, is Saville's motive for producing this work insofar as how she wants it to be read. Personally I find the images quite shocking and even a bit repulsive, and yet I also feel compelled to examine them – drawn to identify the features amongst the gruesomeness. Katherine Dunn makes her analysis in the exhibiton catalogue: 

"The images offer, not a story, but an experience that begins in visceral uneasiness and gradually shifts to a haunted serenity. The discomfort is complicated. It is triggered partly by our sense of the instantaneous monstrosity of a normal human transformed by the spreading of the shape beyond what we understood as normal…"

Words taken from the Closed Contact page on the Gagosian Gallery website.

I don't see my own images causing great discomfort, and certainly not a sense of monstrosity, but I am interested in there being a suggestion of transfiguration to 'beyond normal'. I suppose the major difference is that I want there to be a stronger element of my personality coming through the work. I hope that I can bring to the fore the 'self mockery versus narcissism' complex that I investigated in my research project, and that this will be suggested through the title of the work and the accompanying statement. I'm also hoping that viewers will interact with the mirror/video installation, and through that interaction, consider how they publicly-present a version of themselves, and then how they might alter it for their reception within the exhibition space. Perhaps they'll even take part in some vanity-busting self-mockery.

Pixel Portrait - the real(?) starts to appear

There was a big step between this and the previous pixel-portraits. That difference is down to the use of blending and shading. Until now I have mostly painted using block colours (because I initially needed to determine the principal areas) and of course this colouring is not particularly realistic. Now that the face layout has been defined, I have been able to mix these colours – by varying the opacity of brushstrokes between colours, and then overlaying them – to give a gradient of tone to the skin. This then allowed me to begin utilising shading, which in turn gave depth to the features, and advanced the level of realism of the image.

Pixel-Painted Self-Portrait #6

As the portrait progresses, its development is slowing. The sessions now take the better part of a day, and the level of detail (now working with brushes as small as 2 or 3 pixels in diameter) means that the changes are increasingly subtle. When I started the project I had no completion date in mind, as I was aware that the process of this task was very much an unknown, and to aim for a realistic looking photograph made by painting pixels could take an incredibly long time.

Hence for the upcoming degree shows, I will present this project as a work in progress. I see this as a good thing, better in fact than if I were to present a final and resolved piece. If I can find a way to neatly exhibit the six successive pixel portraits in an online gallery (see below), then an audience can engage with the project's evolution. And then there is the potential to generate interest in the subsequent development and outcome of the project - an opportunity for the work to acquire a following and have life after these upcoming shows.

(adding shading to the eye area)

Self-Portrait with Mirror and Pixel Canvas (after Johannes Gumpp)

Johannes Gumpp Self Portrait with Mirror and Canvas

An effective presentation of the pixel portraits for now, is as a short slideshow, with a a slow cross dissolve between each image - which becomes especially effective towards the end when the transition is less noticeable. Enjoy.

Wols/ Arnulf Rainer

The following two artists have both produced self-portraits in which they alter and manipulate their facial features.

Wols (pseudonym for Wolfgang Schulze) was both a painter and photographer working in France in the 1930's and 40's, known for his depictions of ambitious scenes using modest every-day objects. In 1940 he produced a series of what was then considered remarkable self-portraits, exploiting the potential to vary his facial appearances and expressions.

Arnulf Rainer, from the series Face Farces

"Arnulf Rainer's main subject has always been himself, seen as an actor in extreme situations, comic or tragic. His first photographic self-portraits were made in a passport photo-booth in Vienna's main railway station in 1968-9. His idea was that acting in front of the camera would call up 'dormant, or psychopathic reserves of energy'. Then in the 1970's he began to supplement the photographs with violent over drawing, to reveal new and unexpected personages within himself, he called the portraits face-farces. The grimaces in these portraits are projected outwards, and they are affronts meant both to engross and to keep others at a distance." (Words taken from the Phaidon Photography Book.) 

The reason I have presented these two together, is not because I want to make a strong connection between them, but because on discovering them and recognising their similarity to my intended project, I felt it was important to acknowledge their significance as past photographic work which defines the context of my own. In that respect, I need to question what there motives were for producing these photographs. It would seem that Rainer's work relates to issues of internal conflict, and there may be an incentive from him to resolve this. Wols motivation seems to be more of an experimentation and light-hearted playfullness - but I imagine that for 1940 they would have seemed quite unusual portraits.

I can draw parallels here to my own work. To Wols in the sense that I too am hoping to present photographs that are a bit unusual, that will draw attention due to their originality (but with a rationale of deeper meaning behind them). But also (and more so) to Rainer, in my attempts to resolve something internal. A significant focus of my research project was self-mockery. And that is a charecteristic that I want to communicate with my final images, and I hope an audience will find them humorous. But self-mockery is a characteristic with many levels, beneath it is a self-criticism, even a self-inflicted insult. And the criticism I make of myself, and the personality flaw I wish to ameliorate with this project, is vanity and narcissism. I think it is important that I find a way to deliver that motive to the audience (it could just be a short statement accompanying the images somewhere) as it will offer them a greater understanding of the exhibited photographs.

Bruce Nauman

With my proposed plans to produce self-portraits which display extreme and altered facial performances, comes the need to look to other artists who have dealt with similar subject matter. The first is Bruce Nauman.

From Study for Holograms

There is also a similar video performance 'Pinch Neck' found here.

Nauman argues for his own body to be considered as viable as any other object for the use of sculpture, as is evidenced in his famous Self-Portrait as a Fountain. The quality I see in the images above is the extremity to which Nauman transfigures his face – it almost becomes alien. And that extremism is something I would like to attempt, to show the great variation possible within the facial appearance, perhaps even to lead the audience to question how two very different expressions can have been produced by the same person.

The major disparity between the images above and the ones I intend to produce, is that Nauman removes his identity by cropping the work. I want my identity to be a feature of my images, so as to highlight my attempts at humour and self-mockery as a counter to narcissism. My simultaneous criticism and indulgence of vanity is a very personal aspect, which defines my work.  However Nauman's faces have led me to question to what extent my own facial performances could be considered as sculpture. A part of me feels happy for them to be thought of that way, as demonstrations of behaviours which I would encourage others to partake in. And this thought in turn lends support to my plans for an interactive element of my exhibition.

Bedroom Self-portraits

This work arose almost without intention. Through the researching and planning done as preparation for the major projects, I found myself drawn to make self-portraits in a manner that any photographer, or even just camera user, might do: simple self-contemplative images, taken in a personal space, and utilising mirrors, timers, remotes, and webcams. I've come to title and know the work as 'The bedroom self-portraits'. Its earliest incarnation was in my initial experimentation and expression using a standard mirror.

 

 

Although these pictures are not part of my planned production. They do speak of the themes I want to address, which I suppose is why they have arisen. For instance the idea of an enigmatic duality between a public and private self. The images are made privately, in a private space, but them shown publicy, and hence undoubtedly contain some conscious altering of the presented me. Do I produce and edit the images to show me as attractive, thoughtful, mysterious? Or do I disregard those desires and go for something 'honest'? Or is it somewhere in between?

The images led me to think of Airyka Rockefeller's self-portrait series – Between or Before. I can't say I was inspired by the work as I made the association afterwards. But I feel that there is some parallel within the personal introspection of our self-portraits.

Airyka Rockefeller After the Acupuncturist 

Airyka Rockefeller Between Flesh and Stone

Two Purveyors of Eccentricity

A late edition to my presentation, among other small adjustments, following the feedback from last Friday's rehearsal, is the dancing sculpture work of Gilbert and George.

Throughout the research, artists that approach with an autobiographical perspective have been of greatest relevance. It has been especially interesting when the trait of self-mockery appears not only in the photographs or video they produce, but also in their presentation as practitioners – a trait ingrained in their personality. Gilbert and George's personality, or rather their joint persona (along with their humorous and ridiculing exhibition of it), is at the forefront of their 'singing and living sculptures' work, in particular their video piece Bend It.

Their recent appearance on This Week, discussing eccentricity and weirdness (it also features extracts from Bend It) can be found here.

Gilbert and George Bend It (still)

The Proposal

Below is the proposal I recently submitted for the Photographic Practice module. It's rather long for a blog post - the first part explains the theoretical approach and reasoning, the second half goes into detail of the practicalities of producing the work. If you want to know simply what I will be doing, and see sample images of those intended projects, then scroll down to the 'Plan/Schedule' heading.


Name

‘Gorgeous’ George Rippon

Title

Me, My Reflection and Him

or

The Self-indulgence of Gorgeous George

Description of subject to be investigated

I am interested in the persona that we present in order to display our desired qualities. Our relationship with our reflections and the images of ourselves that we experience, are significant in the conscious creation and adjustment of this public self. I’m seeking to examine the response of the individual to their awareness of their own absorption with their presented image. This response includes self-mockery, self-indulgence, narcissism and an admittance of a need for recognition. Moreover, I’m interested in the manner in which this performance is continued, and what relationship then ensues between the ‘reflective-private' and the ‘performed-public' selves.

Context

“I love acting. It is so much more real than life.” Oscar Wilde

Within the field of self-portraiture there has always been some kind of exploration into identity. Because we are aware of the capability of an image to depict (in the case of portraits) a person’s character, we are then conscious of the level of performance that manifests from the subject. Since in self-portraits the artist is both subject and creator, there is often an analysis and manipulation of the performance from both angles. When artists use self-portraiture to question the different versions of presented ‘self’, their approach is fundamentally relevant, due to the insight they hold of ultimate knowledge and access to the subject.  

The following practitioners form the context to this study because they are engaged in the variance that exists between a conscious performance and a natural behaviour. The works of Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura, are concerned largely with masquerade and elaborate performances; however, in consistently using themselves as the subject, there is an element of their own character underlying their play-acting. Alternatively, Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, and the collaboration of Patrick Tsai and Madi Ju’s My Little Dead Dick, are both strongly autobiographical works, although a sense of performance (or the possibility of) to the camera can be inferred. Claude Cahun’s work has a strong case for illustrating the perpetual (and destined to fail) efforts of artists to discover their true self behind recognised personas: “Under the mask is another mask, I will never finish lifting all these faces.” (1930, cited in Bright, 2010). Anita Khemka obfuscates what is staged and what is spontaneous by taking her self-portraits in public places, allowing the environment and people around her to contribute to the result. Bas Jan Ader appears to give the rawest insight into his personality in I’m Too Sad to Tell You, and yet by using photography and video to document his expression, still leaves the viewer questioning to what extent his behaviour is genuine or performed.

The following issues are also relevant: the philosophical debate of the notion of ‘self’ – suggested to be an entity that merely perceives (Hume); the psychological arguments concerning the ego and alter ego (Freud) and the ego, other, Other, and subject (Lacan); the anthropological discussion around the use of webcams and Youtube for self-performance (Wesch).

My standpoint on this investigation is an inquisitive one, attempting to unravel and perhaps ameliorate a complex I have with my continual introspection: I’m always thinking about myself and wondering why.

Plan/Schedule of work

1.      1. A set of self-portraits using a two-way mirror, so I look at and interact with my reflection rather than a lens, but line up the eyesight to give the impression of a straight portrait, aiming for high clarity and minimum background detail (similar lighting and composition to Emma Sailah’s  Mirror Mirror). I will then re-enact the extreme facial performances as done to the bathroom mirror - to investigate: my altering of presentation; relationship between inner (thought) and outer (visible) selves; attempting humour; challenging attractive appearance.

‘Hannah’ and ‘Minh Ai’ from Mirror Mirror by Emma Sailah. 

Test images using normal mirror with a hole in its centre for the lens. One diffused light above camera. Poor focus is an error, background will have no detail, composition is suitable, lighting needs to improve. Images ©George Rippon. All Rights Reserved.

2. A similar process to above, with others in front of the mirror – where I photograph them attempting to copy my extravagant facial contortions, as a means of continuing the humour, and exploring the universality of the face (relevant to physiognomy). Perhaps also ask them to photograph themselves, to make their own self-portraits, with cable release or remote – to see how they respond given the opportunity to present a desired look.

3.      3. As a continuation of my Self Videos, produce a regularly updated diary of webcam performances - displaying a general indulgence of trivial aspects of my personality, experiences, thoughts etc – investigating further the desire to be celebrity/revered/known through attempted humour.

Self Videos (still)

Forehead Letters (still)

4.      4. A self-portrait of pixels (I can't paint) – using a mirror, and Adobe Photoshop – ‘painting’ with various colours, various brush sizes, producing several pieces – forming an overall progression, striving towards a realistic portrait (eventually looking like a photograph). Inspired by the Johannes Gumpp painting of himself in the act of painting a self-portrait (likewise Norman Rockwell’s Triple Self-portrait), I plan to investigate in what manner and with what adjustments I will reproduce my image.

Self-Portrait with Mirror and Canvas by Johannes Gumpp

Pixel-Painted Self-Portrait #1 and #2

Making of Pixel-Painted Self-Portrait 

5.      5. I’m a ... (artist) - a series of videos in which I attempt to prove my creative multi-talents (musician, actor, painter, etc.), but which ultimately highlight myself as a failure and fool, wanting appreciation – inspired in part by Bjorn Veno’s promotional videos for PXSnatch.

6.      6. A video piece based on my Body (own) collage where each image is moving rather than still. However the movement will be very subtle, aiming to give the impression of a still image on first glance, and then following with the realisation that the body is moving/breathing/alive. Similar motive to the original piece – to present own body in unflattering manner – but with heightened representation.

Body (own) 

Body (own) (still)

Audience

·      Fine art/gallery community – aiming to attract attention at exhibition in London held during a week where photography is highly popular in the area due to degree shows. This to be at a gallery (The Rag Factory) which is establishing itself as a popular venue at the time of these events. The intention is to involve other established practitioners, to elevate the exhibition above a student degree show and encourage a larger footfall, and also the potential to make connections with curators/gallerists etc. There is the chance of the exhibition being reviewed owing to the supporting factors above, which will further enhance the publicity. Additionally, there has been a recent growth of interest in contemporary self-portrait photography with the publication of Susan Bright’s book Auto Focus.

·      Online – a personal blog, George Rippon Photography which is updated regularly with latest work, ideas and research; combined with a Twitter account as a means of spreading the work to a remote audience (aiming to increase interested following, particularly those based in London in lead-up to the exhibition). Utilising social media to present and build up a recognised brand name – YouTube channel, Twitter account, and a video blog, all as ‘GorgeousGeorgeo’.

·      YouTube viewers – humour is popular, short videos, a homemade aesthetic is well accepted. There is a potential to go viral, although this seems to be down to chance and is very much a snowball effect. If popularity is found on YouTube, then considering the nature of the project and its delivery, an interest could follow from the fine art community.

·      Academic – as the project is based on the reflection of photographic imagery in self-portraiture, its content may be relevant in the study of photography theory/behaviour. There is also a relevance to research in the fields of philosophy, psychology, anthropology and other areas in which the notion of ‘self’ is questioned.

Anticipated method of presentation

Gallery:

·      Two-way mirror project (1.) – large prints of oversize face, to give impression of “Ah it’s a big face!” – so as to show off their absurdity, and impress/oppress my image upon others.

·      Potentially include a two-way mirror as a means of involving the viewer. Place a large rear-projected print behind a two-way mirror, with the projection light triggered by motion (similar to a burglar light) so an apparent mirror turns into a picture as viewers pass.

·      And/or a video camera concealed behind a two-way mirror, with the footage output delayed and shown to the side - so people can play to/with their reflection and then view it moments after.

·      Video projection – of selected ‘self-videos’ (3. & 5.).

·      Medium prints (40x40cm) making a progression piece of pixel-painted self-portrait (4.).

·      May have smaller prints of mirror portraits of others (2.).

Online:

·      Blog of videos (like diary updates) and a YouTube channel – refer to Ask A Ninja/What I Wore Today – comical, intending to have the potential to develop a mass following.

·      Simple web gallery of mirror portraits (one for self-portraits, one for others) (1. & 2.)

·      An interactive view of the pixel-painted portrait, with a slider so it can be quickly seen how the portrait developed. See Girlpower –Retouch  

Budget/Resources required.

·      Two-way mirror – £44.48

·      Wood and construction materials for mirror stand – £40 - £50

·      Construction tools and assistance – provided.

·      Loan of Hasselblad H3DII with 50mm lens from Calumet for 2 days – £530*

·      Prints for ‘Two-way mirror’ project:

Option 1 – 3x 110x110cm prints on fibre based paper, mounted on 5mm Foamboard (from The Print Bureau, Coventry) at £69.58 ea = £208.74.

Option 2 – 3x 101x101cm Giclee prints, mounted on DiBond with battens, and acrylic seal, incl. delivery (from The Printspace, London) at £326.54 ea = £979.62*

·      Prints for ‘Pixel painted self-portrait’ project:

Option 1 – 6x 40x40cm prints on resin coated paper, mounted and laminated on 3mm Foamboard (Print Bureau) at £8 ea = £48

Option 2 – 10x 40x40cm C-type matt prints, mounted on 3mm Foamex with acrylic seal, incl. delivery (Printspace) at £63.68 ea = £636.80*

·      Blog space and YouTube channel – free.

·      Web domain and hosting – already owned.

·      Projection equipment with audio – provided.

·      DSLR camera, studio space, lighting equpiment – provided.

·      Video camera and editing software – provided.

·      Normal mirror, Adobe Photoshop software, Apple iMac desktop computer incl. webcam – already owned.

* indicates a non-essential but ‘ideal’ expense.

Total minimum (essential) budget: £341.22

Total maximum (ideal) budget: £2,240.90

Some additional images relating to the 'context' section of the proposal:

Self-Portrait on the Rocks, Levanzo, Sicily by Nan Goldin

Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore by Claude Cahun

Travelling by train from Bangalore to Mumbai by Anita Khemka

I’m too Sad to Tell You by Bas Jan Ader

Self-Mockery within Male/Female Self-Portraiture

Although it was never a planned enquiry of my investigation, an interesting issue of gender has arisen in my research. Without intention, all of the photographers/artists that I have chosen as suitable examples for my argument, are male. It seems that self-mockery within self-portraiture is a behaviour or endeavour more suited to men. I can see this relating to the fact that men seem to be dominant in the profession of stand-up comedy, and many comedians display self-mockery, or if not that, then a readiness not to take oneself seriously.

Women's self-portraiture tends to relate to more serious issues, notably often femininity or female identity. It seems to me that the female gender is the one more loaded with potential for reflection on its role and reception as a gender in society, simply because of its historical cultural background. When humour is used it tends to be more outwardly than inwardly critical – think Sarah Lucas, Tracy Emin or Julie Pochron. The male self-portraitist however, seems to have greater ease at traversing into a self-mocking stance. 

The two examples of women using self-mockery I came across are the films of video artist Shannon Plumb, and Anna Fox's series Super Snacks. However Plumb's work doesn't seem particularly inward looking or in anyway autobiographical, and Fox's work comes across as rather despairing humour. 

Shannon Plumb - The Corner (still)

I think, without intending it, the type of self-mockery which I have come to understand and question originates from the male reflection on his own inabilities or shortcomings. Naturally that is the self-mockery which I can relate to.

Taking this male reflection further, Bjorn Veno's blog is an excellent exploration into man's place today, and also this post 'The good men are not needed' by Danny Ledonne.

The Work and Character of Bjorn Veno

Veno's ongoing work 'MANN' concerns male identity, which he feels is in need of addressing in light of the extensive focus on femininity. His work looks at issues of male confidence into adulthood, as a man realises his inevitable failure at fulfilling the 'hero characters' of childhood. The work is in a sense autobiographical, or certainly self-reflective.

From Chapter I, Sirkel Bjorn Veno

There is humour and self-mockery to his work, although it may not be apparent at the surface of the images, it is displayed in Veno's Artist Talk video – where he talks dryly and ironically of his own foolishness in holding onto childish desires. "You might be a big muscle builder, confident and secure, me - I have fleeting moments of confidence, the rest of the time I wonder: what the hell am I doing?" (0:46 - 1:07). What's really of note here is this repeating trait of self-mockery, it continues to reveal itself and it comes to define Veno's character as a practitioner. A result of self-portraiture – the artist lives in the work, and the work lives in the artist.

Boris Mikhailov in 'Auto Focus'

I recently bought Susan Bright's book Auto Focus: The Self-Portrait in Contemporary Photography (a good article on it here). Published just last year, the book is proving to be incredibly useful and informative as a reference for recent and current practitioners working with self-portraiture.

There are many names I've come across before, and equally many which are new to me. Curiously there are also several practitioners I'm familiar with, but not for their self-portraiture work. This point alone speaks of the draw towards turning the camera on oneself that many photographers experience, even if that's not work that they spread widely nor produce often, it still seems to be a thing of intrigue for many artists.

One such photographer whose self-portrait work I found in the book which suited my research admirably, was Boris Mikhailov. Susan Bright's comment says it as well as I ever could:

“A wry sense of humour is often apparent throughout Mikhailov’s work, and tends to be the tie that binds his self portraits together. His comedic sensibilities can be seen in the series I am Not I, in particular his ridiculous posturing with a dildo. He pokes fun at his masculine body-builder pose – which aims to show the body to its best potential – by being unafraid to laugh at himself and mock the potency of the phallus with its plastic counterpart. The more recent photographs of Mikhailov playing football in the park rely upon a similar goofiness and slapstick humour, which turn what could be banal pictures into an almost tragicomic meditation on age and agility. They are evidence that he does not take himself too seriously.”   

Boris Mikhailov - I am Not I

Boris Mikhailov - Football

Bright's writing is concise, interesting, and accessible. In the introduction she mentions several times the continuing efforts exercised by photographers and artists to discover something of an objective or pure self through self-portraiture. Claude Cahun's quote sums up the challenge of it succinctly: “Under the mask is another mask, I will never finish lifting all these faces.” I can see this and the further points Bright raises in this part of her book, assisting me in providing a context from which my current photographic practice will emerge from. 

Initial Plans for Final Project

Yesterday was the first presentation of our intial ideas for the final major project. The content of which will be shaping itself into a proposal in the near future. My project, at its earliest stage, began with the Nude Naked task from the 'picturing the body' module. You can follow the link for the rationale behind that work, but essentially my wish to present my own body in a stark and unflattering manner as a counter to my pride in it, illuminates a key theme which continues into this present project. And that is: an awareness of the problem and weakness of vanity, and yet also a susceptability to it; and following that is (or may be) a response to mock our vanity. That module culminated in the Body (own) piece. But as well as this mockery of pride in physical appearance, there also grew a more personal jest, at my desire to be revered, to be funny, liked, a regarded performer - as evidenced in Self Videos.

The current project then, concerns issues of: self-portraiture; self-mockery and narcissism - the relationship of the two; performance and presentation; the intrigue of the mirror.

At present I'm struggling to define it in words clearer than those, however I am clear on the following pieces that I wish to produce, and in analysing these it may be clearer what it is which underlies my practice.

1. A set of self-portraits using a two-way mirror, so I look at and interact with my reflection rather than a lens, but line up the eyesight to give immpression of a straight portrait, aiming for high clarity and minimum background detail (similar lighting and composition to Robbie Cooper's 'Immersion') reenact the extreme facial performances as done to the bathroom mirror - investigate: my altering of presentation; relationship between inner (thought) and outer (visible) selves; attempting humour; challenging attractive appearance.
2. A similar process using others - where I photograph them (whilst they look at their reflection) at an unknown moment, I will wait and look for some reveal in their character, and then they photograph themselves, with cable release or other - to see how they respond given the option to present their desired look, how it contrasts with the portrait taken by another.
3. As a continuation of Self videos - a regularly updated diary of webcam performances - showcasing a general indulgence of trivial aspects of my personality, experiences, thoughts etc, investigating further the desire to be celebrity/revered/known through attempted humour. 
4. A self-portrait of pixels (can't use paint) - using a mirror, and Adobe Photoshop, various colours, various brush sizes, several pieces - forming an overall progression, striving towards a realistic portrait (eventually looks like a photograph), inspired by the Johannes Gumpp painting of himself in the act of painting a self-portrait - investigating what image I will put upon myself, in what manner and with what adjustments will I reproduce my image?
5. I'm a ... (artist) - a series of videos in which I attempt to prove my creative multitalents (musician, actor, painter, etc.), but which ultimately highlight myself as a failure and fool, wanting appreciation,   inspired in part by Bjorn Veno's promotional videos for pxsnatch.   

Still from Immersion by Robbie Cooper

Johannes Gumpp

Bjorn veno's videos for PXSnatch can be found here.

The feedback from this presentation was encouraging. One significant aspect higlighted, was the notion of a division of self between a public and a private, and how these two perspectives then relate to each other, and furthermore how that relationship is reflected in the work. Also illumated was the conflict between: a yearning to be noticed (likely arising from the public side), and a wariness of being watched or inspected (private).