"Incognito: the Hidden Self-Portrait" Exhibition

Yancey Richardson Gallery

poster for "Incognito: the Hidden Self-Portrait" Exhibition

This event has ended.

The works in this exhibition explore the many ways artists incorporate themselves into their images through shadows, reflections, body parts, an obscured face or some other discreet or surreptitious means. Often characterized by a strong sense of narrative, but not strictly limited to vignettes from the artist’s lives, Incognito offers a glimpse at how contemporary photographers use experimentation and whimsy to engage with the long tradition of self-portraiture.

The use of reflection as a visual metaphor is often writ large. In Matthew, Kenneth Josephson’s portrait with his infant son, for example, father and child have literally become one. The child is protected within the shadow of the artist, whose lens captures the essence of their union. Similarly, Abelardo Morell’s My Camera and Me reveals the faint silhouette of the artist, upside-down in the viewfinder and again in a wash of light in the background. The composition focuses on the camera itself, however, draped in a black cloth as though posing for it’s own portrait.

At various turns, the artists in Incognito reveal themselves in the reflections of shop windows, or in an eyeball, or camouflaged against wallpaper; here present, though often hidden in plain sight.

Media

  • Facebook

    Reviews

    All content on this site is © their respective owner(s).
    New York Art Beat (2008) - About - Contact - Privacy - Terms of Use