Lincoln Schatz’s generative video artwork Branch is included in the exhibition “Mirror Mirror: Contemporary Portraits and the Fugitive Self”. With the advent of social networking sites, cell phones, and YouTube, how we portray ourselves is always transforming. This exhibition will explore how we shape our identities in an expanding global society and how living artists create artworks in an effort to discover who we are.
From “Mirror Mirror: Contemporary Portraits and the Fugitive Self”:
“For thousands of years the human race has created portraits. Traditionally artists created paintings and sculptures to reveal—and sometimes conceal—certain aspects of the portrait sitter’s distinct identity. Today, many artists are concerned with discovering ways to visually represent the true self, which springs from an amalgamation of influences that include daily rituals, cultural norms, religious practices, and social pressures, using a variety of media.
Mirror, Mirror: Contemporary Portraits and the Fugitive Self will feature works of art from a broad range of international contemporary artists who are engaged in the examination of the factors that shape the ways in which we view ourselves, and how we choose to present ourselves to others. The exhibition will look at three different themes evident in the work of these artists that contribute to the formation of our individual identities: rituals; facades, mirrors, and masks; and the real self.
This exhibition also will explore the impact of new technological media on the traditional art form of portraiture. A significant number of works in the exhibition will thoughtfully analyze the ways in which social networking Web sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr, and the increasing functionality of cell phones, including capturing and sending images and video, prompt new explorations of identity.
“These mediums have inspired new and fascinating approaches to the pursuit of manifesting individual identity,” says Jeff Lambson, curator of contemporary art. “As the world becomes ‘smaller’ and more connected through mass media and technology, people are increasingly exploring who they are and are thinking more critically about their worldviews. Why they do what they do.”
Additionally, visitors to Mirror Mirror will see cutting-edge contemporary works of art in a variety of media including installation art, painting, multi-media sculpture, and video art. The interplay among the diverse perspectives of the artists represented in this exhibition reveals individual differences and shared commonalities in a global community.
Mirror Mirror: Contemporary Portraits and the Fugitive Self will be on view in the Conway A. Ashton & Carl E. Jackman Gallery on the lower level of the museum from Friday, October 23, 2009 through May 8, 2010.”