(Left) Sleazy chic with hemp necklace, bandana, and dollar bill shower curtain. Credit unkown. / (Right) “Self-portrait in Golden Cape” by Odd Nerdrum, 1998, oil on canvas.
Previously, it was the paintbrush and the back of a canvas (maybe a palette), that were quick identifiers of a self portrait. The self portrait collection of an artist showed their grasp of technique, as well as their ability to hide elements of their psyche and time into a single visual piece. But, a continuing phenomenon has always been the nude self portrait. Much different than a subject that was nude, painting yourself nude not only took hefty balls (pun slightly intended), but a certain sense of free hanging exhibitionism. With the invention of the shutter trigger (and then the timer) came hordes of self portraits by the talented and not-so-talented — especially all those college lesbian photographers who couldn’t resist photograph after photograph of pubic hair.
An example of talent, in this context, can be found in Jeff Wall’s “Picture For Woman”, 1979. Wall himself stands next to a woman who exudes sexual energy into the mirror and out to the viewer. Of course, in Wall’s own words, this piece wasn’t at all commentary on the bathroom self portrait, but a “remake” (i.e., modernization, remix, cover) of Manet’s “A Bar at the Folies-Bergere”, 1881-82. Nothing of this painting relates to the sexual side of self portraits besides the mirror exposing the woman’s backside. And Wall’s intentions were more along the lines of the interaction of two different objects, or dialectics in an educational atmosphere. So, a better, quick thought example of an artist’s self portrait and the sexual energy within it — not to mention themes of verility and the ability to withstand a hard-on for hours — can be found in Odd Nerdrum’s “Sef-portrait in Golden Cape”, 1998.
But, seriously, I digress from the original reason of this post. In today’s gossip column, thanks Diandra, another woman has claimed having an affair with Tiger Woods and she “supposedly” has proof (photos, texts, and a voicemail; including the exact number of instances of the aforementioned). One text reads: “Send me something very naughty…Go to the bathroom and take [a picture].” It can, too easily, be assumed that the original text could’ve read something like: “…Go to the bathroom and take one.” This implicit statement is felt common, and what visual sum it projects is equally so.
What, in the past, may have belonged to the talented few is now possible for anyone with a camera and a mirror (or, in some cases for those with a long arm reach, sans-mirror). In fact, it is these very limited number of resources that lead to the specificity and abundance of this phenomenon. Is it a personal creative expression or, rather, exhibitionism? Do I even need to pose that question? After all, as streakers can teach us, the purpose of genitals are, ultimately, to be exposed in an query-less, public manner. Well, that and sexual reproduction.
