Self portrait
Self portrait #33
Charcoal & ink on Tracing paper, Self-portrait, Sketch's, framed, 8x10 inches, Sept 2021
Self portrait #32
Chalk pastel on pastel paper, Self-portrait, Sketch's, 8x10 inches, Sept 2021
Self portrait #31
Charcoal on mixed media paper, Self-portrait, Sketch's, framed, 8x10 inches, Sept 2021
Identity politics: the idea of ambiguity and identity within the person I was portraying. From this snippet here of an earlier blog post; the idea of Identity being ambiguous of being. And the relative approach it has towards art and its basic primary factors we analyse and identify by is something I wish to delve into more. What do I as an artist see myself as and or what am I seen as.
IDENTITY: condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person or thing: a case of mistaken identity; a male gender identity; immigrants with strong ethnic identities. ... the state or fact of being the same one as described. - dictionary.com
This definition resonates with me because for myself, when I decide to grow out my hair this seems to drastically change my appearance which causes me to be continuously mistaken for a woman whilst in my day to day life from work to general life. This is also a very now topic of the 2020 generation with people who are mistaken for gender or identity. Most commonly with people who wish to be represented and acknowledged with pronouns. I myself being a born Heterosexual male and identify as such through He/Him and being mistaken for a woman.
I originally started this scheme of work with representation, quite literally with showing a blank canvas and expressing that what this meant. The blank canvas being a representation of myself. I see myself as this canvas and that like the canvas, I can be open and developed into whatever I wish to convey to the world. The artists and the canvas are 2 sides of the same coin, almost mirror reflections.
We can never distinguish an artist from the artwork, they are defined by the other.
As an artist who has mostly explored the practices of photography and film, to show a canvas as an expression of ones self embodiment as an artist was very cliché, but I wanted to show it more because my works arn't just piece of film or photography. They have their own embodiments that can be expressed within the mind of the viewer and audience and I wanted to express this sense more from the other side.
Portrait - Untitled 2018
The self portrait is one art form that comes in many styles, methods and practices. From sculpture, painting, photography and even some films. As a photographer I can capture and adjust the model to my liking. Within my sketched self portraits I try to capture a real facial expression. But my drawing style is more photogenic towards still life then for portraiture, which would seem that my style is more abstract no matter the parameters.
For myself as an artist my attempts at drawing have never been for the facial expression or for a likely realistic rendition of a face as can be seen within my pieces. I tried to experiment with realism and viewpoints to make an accurate self portrait, drawing using viewpoints along an image.
I created a series of several sketches. 30 in total, through these I attempted different approaches to mark making and seeing how I can present the different aesthetic elements of art into a single piece.
after careful consideration for the medium and mark making used I chose a selection of 3 sketched self-portraits to be exhibited, Self portraits 31, 32 & 33. These three pieces are presented together as a sequence. The sequence reflects that of a 35mm film strip a common and loved photographic medium I use quite regularly.