Self Portrait

Comment

Comment by Frank Sharlow on September 17, 2012 at 8:42am

Thank you for the thoughtful critique.

Comment by Resident Curator on September 13, 2012 at 8:19pm

Curator’s Comment:  

 

This self portrait is a fresh and innovative construction that appears to arrive at a multifaceted persona through simple means.  I’m instantly reminded of Claude Levi-Straus’s construction of the bricoleur in The Savage Mind- a storyteller who animates myth and parables through the ordinary and profane. The crowning aluminum pot of utensils inverts the hierarchy associated with such royal regalia – while the empty robe pushes the metaphor of the naked Emperor back into obscurity, and invisibility.  I’m more curious about inclusion of the recognizable and specific male dolls.  Superman coming from behind the figure’s back and the figure in red (Ken?) may also serve as archetypal emblems, but their roles and positions are somewhat left in question.  Having an individual in one’s pocket suggests a certain power over them.  Maybe the empty jester retains control through anonymity.  But loose, shifting narratives are left open for interpretation in the straightforward components.  While I see a similar kind of storytelling in the installation titled War, the separate pieces are more familiar to me, and so the result is effective, but less remarkable.