Reflected Self-Portraits
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Andrew Bracey
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
"Reflected Self-Portraits" is a body of practice-research that explores the intersection of subjectivity, appropriation, and the materiality of artworks through a series of self-portraits taken using the reflective surfaces of other artists' works. The project, ongoing since 2007, currently consists of an archive of 778 images. These photographs serve as both a record of the artist’s evolving self and a fragmented representation of another artist's work, operating with a parasitic intent that utilizes a specific material quality without engaging in interpretative dialogue. The work diverges from traditional painting practices and aligns itself with appropriation art, emphasizing "making-looking" through peripheral observation of overlooked elements within artworks. The images reflect a unique engagement with artworks, embodying a speculative approach that questions the boundaries between observer and observed. This interaction challenges the conventional hierarchy of artistic agency, positioning the artist's reflection as a secondary yet integral aspect of the host artwork. A three-part video installation at General Practice, Lincoln, featured a scrolling slideshow of these self-portraits, paired with a text-based screen acknowledging the original artists and a video of a mirror being shattered, symbolizing the ephemeral nature of self-representation. By documenting fleeting interactions with art, "Reflected Self-Portraits" questions the role of subjectivity and authorship in contemporary practice, suggesting a commensal rather than fully parasitic relationship with the original artworks. The project integrates theories from Susan Sontag and Hito Steyerl, contemplating the digital and physical dissemination of images and the shifting aura of artworks. As the photographs transcend traditional gallery spaces into digital realms, the work ultimately redefines the concept of the self-portrait, transforming it into a complex interplay between the self, the artwork, and the ever-expanding digital space.
Self-ish Portraits
(last edited: 2024)
author(s): Andrew Bracey
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
My position is that knowledge about an artist and their work can be uncovered through close looking at their work and that some of this knowledge can be held and transferred tacitly to viewers (that are also artists). This knowledge can be articulated through practice, in this case in the making and subsequent close looking and reflection of the Selfish Portrait paintings. Because the knowledge is tacit, as opposed to propositional, the knowledge may be sensed, felt or difficult to articulate in words. Practice is the most appropriate vehicle to test whether this knowledge can shift from what Alexis Shotwell’s has articulated as ‘nonpropositional knowledge’ to ‘potentially propositional knowledge’.
In Selfish Portraits I search for self-portraits by a range of dead artists in terms of geography, gender, race, ‘status’, time of working, style, etc. This necessitates (re)searching beyond my current knowledge base using gallery visits, internet searches and books. The selected self portrait(s) are subjected to a period of ‘looking attentively’ in order to visual interrelate and learn about the painting, and by extension the artist. The main focus is allowing the self portraits to ‘talk to me’ following the theoretical stance of the ‘active’ painting or picture, that knowledge is held in the painting itself and cannot always be found in (written) documentation.