self portrait 2014

 self portrait, oil on canvas, 2014

Detail, signature

The individual is shifting sand, constantly reinventing himself based on his subjective views and experiences while constantly being interpreted by other people’s equally subjective perceptions. Reality is subjective, identity is subjective. For artists, the portrait has been the area for the exploration of identity for millennia, sometimes attempting this through an “objective” view of the subject by “literal” means, sometimes by trying to transcend the obvious limitations of what is considered to be objectively real and intuitively reaching out for the subjective in an attempt to find a higher truth. There is a need in people, a need in the artist, to try and make sense of themselves and of other people; a need to understand or grasp the nature of identity through the portrait. In the more egalitarian age of the digital photograph, this need to interpret oneself, to make sense of oneself and construct oneself through the means of portraiture has found its embodiment in the form of the ubiquitous “selfie”. Rather than have its importance diminish through the ages, the portrait and self portrait have become even more essential in a contemporary context as it becomes clear that what has historically been seen as the pursuit of the artist is in fact a deep need found in most people. Identity is actually an unsolved enigma that troubles us, as long as it remains so, portraiture will continue to be relevant.