March 25 2013 I was invited to contribute a self-portrait to a magazine that will first be released this September and whose main subject is self-portraiture. It was the first time to be challenged by such a theme, meaning that I didn't want to make just another self-portrait, but to make it meaningful and the result of a concept.
Firstly I did some research, mainly through a book called 500 Self-Portraits, by Phaidon Press Inc., so I could understand a chronology of what has already been done, but at the same time to see how artists tackled this subject throughout history. Portraits like Norman Rockwell with Triple Self-Portrait, 1960, Jean Dubuffet, Self-Portrait II, 1966, Claes Oldenburg, Symbolic Self-Portrait with Equals, 1969, Hannah Wilke, SOS Starification Object Series, 1974-82, Arnulf Rainer, Angst, 1969-73, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Autoritratto come bastardo-Parte II, 1982, Jimmie Durham, Self-Portrait (JD 56), 1987 (detail), were portraits that really resonated with me. Still, I had to find my own path.
So. What does self-portrait means in the XXI century? What does self-portrait mean to me? Who am I? How much do I want to reveal?
These types of questions were the guiding lines that brought me to my design and my 2013 portrait, representing my present self of 28 in the process of turning 29. Becoming a subject myself was not an easy process. Prior to actual drawing I had to make quite a few written lists.
The conclusion of this project was that I started a personal photography project of selfportraits that I'll bring to en end by the time i'll turn 30. Also it brought me closer to this subject by making me want to push myself further with every upcoming year, to learn so many things and never stay the same. This project made me challenge myself as an individual in my ongoing life process of learning, even more than I was already fighting for.
Everyone should try to exercise this theme at least once in their life time and treat it with seriousness and as a fun experiment!
magazine mockup:
