NARCISSISTIC EXPRESSION

We all do it - self-portraits that is - whether we use reflection or shadow as our means or merely extend one arm outward as an organically connected tripod.


Self-Portrait, holding Polaroid SX-70 Alpha, Encino, CA 2006

This is the image that I use the most online as the photographic representation of me (it's the image that greets you here on my blog, and on my flickr and twitter feeds) is a self-portrait that I shot in one of the bathrooms of my house. I like bathroom light, sometimes it reminds me of candlelight and it's usually a little softer and moody and the mirrors usually provide nice soft fill light. Holding my beloved Polaroid SX-70 Alpha in one hand, I used my other hand to hold my Polaroid SLR 680 SE and take the photo. I had to try it several times to get the expression and framing just right. I like how my eye connects with the viewer and that my expression is sexy and assured. I'm wearing no makeup whatsoever - what you see is what you get - natural me. But there are some tricks too, by using a slightly higher angle, I get more definition around the jaw line and eliminate any double chin. I like this picture the best because it distills me best as how I see me.

The reason I bring up self-portraits is that yesterday I saw The Sum of Myself: Photographic Self-Portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection at BCAM (Broad Contemporary Art Museum). The exhibition's last day is tomorrow, January 3, so I urge you to go this weekend. LACMA & BCAM have a great pay what you wish policy after 5pm, so you can even go for free or a slight donation.

Strangely, BCAM doesn't have an actual webpage devoted to the exhibit, but if you go here, you can scroll down and find a blurb about it. There's also a link here to the Irmas' collection online that has more info and photos.

What really struck me about the collection is the extra creativity people have when photographing themselves. Nearly all the shots represent truly thinking outside the box. Plus it's a chance to see prints from amazing photographers including Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe (represented in a self-portrait as a young man in drag and in a second intense portrait near the end of his life when ravaged by AIDS), Andre Kertész (the master of working with distortion from mirrors), Catherine Opie, William Wegman, Diane Arbus, Weegee, Walker Evans, and Lee Friedlander (whose buzz cut shadow self-portrait on the back of a woman's head and fur coat was pure genius). Honestly there's so much incredible work in this exhibit that it's the kind of show that gives me the good kind of headache that comes from inspirational overload.

Here are a bunch of my self-portraits:


Self-portrait, costumed as Andy Warhol for Halloween, Woodland Hills, CA 2006


Self-portrait, top of a boulder at Stoney Point, Chatsworth, CA 2009


Self-portrait, ornament on the Venice Canal, Venice, CA 2008


Self-portrait, mirror in antique shop, Oatman, AZ 2009



Self-portrait, mirror at Bagdad Cafe, Amboy, CA 2009


Self-portrait, reflected off a building at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA 2009


Self-portrait, mirror on trolley in Beverly Hills, CA 2009


Self-portrait, Stoney Point, Chatsworth, CA 2009


Self-portrait, shadow behind Tom's Welding, Barstow, CA 2009

And here are some self-portraits on display in The Sum of Myself: Photographic Self-Portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection at BCAM (Broad Contemporary Art Museum).


Clockwise from top: Nan Goldin, Self Portrait in the Mirror at the Lodge, Belmont, MA, 1998, Diane Arbus, Self Portrait in Mirror, 1945 (detail), Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait, 1988. All images in this post: The Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection
(Image pulled from the LACMA blog UNFRAMED)


Bruce Nauman, Study for Holograms, 1970, Catherine Opie, Self Portrait, 1993
(Image pulled from the LACMA blog UNFRAMED)

FROM THE VALLEY TO VESUVIUS

Tuesday afternoon I headed over the hill to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) with Jonathan to check out Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples. As a member of LACMA, I was able to get a free pair of tickets to the exhibition.

After seeing the exhibit I gotta say those Romans were a very sexy bunch. There's a lot of flesh on exhibit, albeit in marble and bronze. One very intriguing sculpture even includes a representation of a hermaphrodite! Very little is locked away behind glass, so you get a very up close look at most of the exquisite artifacts.

Jon and I have a LONG history of going to LACMA together since high school!!! So it's always really nice to return there together to check out art and stroll familiar grounds. But this time I was able to actually introduce Jon to the new BCAM side, including Urban Light which he's never seen.

Here are some shots from the day:

Me & Jon in front of a LACMA building decorated in conjunction with the exhibit "Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea" at BCAM.

I thought the colorful ribbons looked like Thera-Bands gone wild and it really spruced up an otherwise drab building. Too bad it's just a temporary installation.

Me pole hugging Chris Burden's Urban Light sculptural installation featuring 202 restored cast iron antique street lamps dating from Los Angeles in the 1920's and 1930's.


Jon's always been a great model!


Jon enjoying HappyHappy

HappyHappy is Korean artist Choi Jeong-Hwa’s installation created for Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea (June 28–September 20, 2009) at LACMA. It's made up of floor-to-ceiling strands of thousands of household containers bought from local 99¢ stores. Walking through this installation, I felt like a big kid romping in one of those inflatable bounce houses. It's a lot of fun, very tactile, very colorful, and the way the outside natural light plays against and through the plastic is visually dynamic.

Jon having fun in the sculpture garden


More of the "Thera-Bands"




Info about Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples from LACMA's website:

"Pompeii and the Roman Villa focuses on the breadth and richness of cultural and artistic life in this region. The exhibition, organized by the National Gallery, Washington, D.C., includes works of art from the imperial villa at Oplontis and from aristocratic villas such as the Villa San Marco at Stabiae and the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum, as well as works from the opulent houses of the urban elite in Pompeii, whose very name conjures up ancient Rome and other towns along the bay of Naples. The objects proposed for this exhibition are a carefully selected group of approximately one hundred-twenty works of sculpture, painting, mosaic, and luxury arts, some of them long-familiar works, others generally unknown to the public. Recent discoveries from around the Bay of Naples that have never before been exhibited in the United States will complement more familiar finds from earlier excavations. In particular, the exhibition focuses on the influence of Classical Greek culture around the Bay of Naples, where wealthy Romans displayed impressive art collections in sumptuous homes."

Incidentally, LACMA has a very nice blog called UNFRAMED.

LACMA LAISSEZ-FAIRE

I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon wandering around LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to see Hearst The Collector and A Story of Photography: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection. Didn't have any major photographic equipment with me - just my pocket camera, a Sony T100 Cybershot, to grab these snaps.


LACMA reflected into another building across Wilshire.





The woman in the Vanity Fair banner is screen legend Gloria Swanson.



This display was a nice surprise - three German cars paying homage to the Art Of Two Germanys / Cold War Cultures exhibit. I believe this is the first time I've ever seen a Trabant in person. L-R: 1972 Trabant, 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, 1956 BMW Isetta.



The red and white Isetta looked very nice against BCAM's red pillars.



This is Chris Burden's "Urban Light" installation of vintage street lights outside of the BCAM (Broad Contemporary Art Museum) wing of LACMA.