Selfies #1-2

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By Julie Bennett
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£2,000.00

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Dimensions (HxWxD):

130 × 50 × 2 cm

Materials:

Oil on linen

Primary Medium:

Oil Painting

Large
2019
Signed on Back
Ready to display
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I have chosen to paint a series of selfies for several reasons. Firstly, as a commentary on contemporary culture’s obsession with the cult of personality over character. The evolution of the selfie places the self firmly at the centre of everything and removes any reflection on the individual’s place in society as the world is seen to revolve around the self. I went to Conway Hall to take the photographs that form the source material for the paintings so that the context influenced me whilst I was painting despite the fact that this cannot be seen in the final works because the self is so all-encompassing that the environment is not apparent. I painted multiple selfies to convey that it doesn’t matter what you are communicating as long as there is an endless stream of conspicuous communication and the more this relates to the self the better. Secondly, whilst the self is the one thing we possess completely and without effort, its face is something we can never directly observe. We spend our whole lives with this sense of loss as to whether we really know what we look like. We try to connect to it by identifying with the view in the mirror or the photograph or the painting. Is there ever an image of the self that reveals its true identity? Does the fact that in each painting the self changes ever so slightly demonstrate that the real self is unattainable? Does painting several selfies bring me any closer to the real me?

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