Lucas Samaras

I got turned on to Samaras a few years back. Two of his projects I'm most familiar with are his Photo Transformations (LINK) and AutoPolaroids (LINK).

Interesting quote from the article about his work with Polaroids, Samaras's take on "selfies" before that word was a twinkle in the millennial eye:

Before there was Instagram and its accompanying selection of digital filters, there were instant Polaroid prints, which allowed users to manipulate their self-portraits in a much more hands-on manner.

A word used later in the article to describe these Polaroid self portraits is "grotesque," a word I also associate with many of the portraits of Francis Bacon, not to mention so many paintings by Goya.

Samaras's Photo Transformations and some other of his photography is fascinating to me, in part because I'm not sure if I like it and even less sure whether that matters to me. I feel like my not liking it presents an opportunity. Something about it reaches out to me so it it may have the potential to change rather than comport with or confirm my taste, which is exciting. Even if I wind up not liking it ever, it's creative enough to warrant my spending some time with it.

I got turned on to Samaras a few years back. Two of his projects I'm most familiar with are his Photo Transformations (LINK) and AutoPolaroids (LINK).

 

Interesting quote from the article about his work with Polaroids, Samaras's take on "selfies" before that word was a twinkle in the millennial eye:

 

A word used later in the article to describe these Polaroid self portraits is "grotesque," a word I also associate with many of the portraits of Francis Bacon, not to mention so many paintings by Goya.

 

Samaras's Photo Transformations and some other of his photography is fascinating to me, in part because I'm not sure if I like it and even less sure whether that matters to me. I feel like my not liking it presents an opportunity. Something about it reaches out to me so it it may have the potential to change rather than comport with or confirm my taste, which is exciting. Even if I wind up not liking it ever, it's creative enough to warrant my spending some time with it.

I found your post quite interesting, Fred. Although smartphones,tablets selfie sticks, etc.have been the major contributors to the selfie craze, I suspect some such images are meaningful and well crafted. Do you know of any name photographers who have shot photos of themselves using tripods and ripcords (or remotes)?

Many well-known photographers made self portraits long before cell phones. Many cell phone self portraits are, as you say, meaningful and well crafted, though I suspect most selfies are taken precisely NOT to be meaningful or well crafted but rather spur-of-the-moment expressions of greeting or document.

Here is just a small sampling. If you google "famous photographer self portraits" you'll find a lot of great stuff.

Robert Mapplethorpe (LINK)

Man Ray (LINK)

Francesca Woodman (LINK) - most of her photos are self portraits

Richard Avedon (LINK)

Here is just a small sampling.

Thanks very much.

Nothing like Self Love.......

I think its not easy to photograph oneself and be satisfied with it. One reason might be that we all have a self image (a vision of ourselves) that we expect to see in a self portrait. Many times we don't see that, we probably see someone else, and that creates a tension, an uneasiness. Its probably a process to accept the photographic me and see what we can discover about ourselves in a self portrait, rather than longing for what we don't see. Demolishing the normal self and twisting a self portrait is probably part of that process as well.

Samaras seems to have infused his self portraits with emotions like anger, fuzziness, agony, torture, ... lots of clenched fists and distorted bodies. I see some reference to impressionistic styles like pointillism. To me, his transformations appear fluid and organic, rather than cubist. Each one is a new nightmare. What is he trying to show, our inner demons? Being tormented by his inner demon and trying to escape? A few works appear to show him levitating or floating in a relative calmness. His transformations are indeed grotesque, as you say. The colors are fabulous though.

Two good quotes:

"What makes vanity so insufferable to us, is that it hurts our own." —François de La Rochefoucauld

"A narcissist is someone better looking than you are." —Gore Vidal

One reason might be that we all have a self image (a vision of ourselves) that we expect to see in a self portrait. Many times we don't see that, we probably see someone else,

One of the reasons I like doing portraits of others and of myself is that I'm often so surprised at the results. Rather than fulfilling expectations, portraits often show something unexpected. A lot of my portraits feel to me like, together, we've actually created a new character. The thing about a character is that it is someone else, someone who the actor may just be playing, but that requires the actor to give a lot of his or her true self even while adopting the role.

I think I'd call the colors in Transformations garish, on first blush, and that seems in tune with the grotesqueness. I stand up and take notice when a photographer or artist is bold enough to be so over-the-top and do so with purpose.

Artists often have big egos, often deservedly so . . .

"When I paint, the ocean roars. Others merely paddle in their bath." —Salvador Dali

Artists often have big egos, often deservedly so . . .

Indeed - many / possibly most Legends in their own minds. The true Artists I have met were rather modest and self effacing.

"Prince, what you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am of myself. There are and there will be thousands of princes. There is only one Beethoven." —Ludwig van Beethoven

"I don't want to know anything about your system of ethics. Strength is the morality of the man who stands out from the rest, and it is mine."—Ludwig van Beethoven

"All my compatriots are asses compared to me." —Paul Cezanne

"For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.” —Goethe

Sandy, I'm guessing there are one or two "true" artists you haven't met or may not know too much about. It's just not the case that most artists with big egos were only legends in their own minds. Humility is hardly a necessary quality for becoming either a "true" artist or a legend.

"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." —Muhammad Ali

Humility is hardly a necessary quality for becoming either a "true" artist or a legend.

A case in point: Frank Lloyd Wright was a truly (insert negative adjective of choice) human being, in so very many ways. Yet, his creative designs are amazing, and remain iconic. I'm quite certain no one ever mistook him for humble. I have no desire to emulate him as a man, but I'd sure like to tap some small part of his creative genius.

I think I'd call the colors in Transformations garish, on first blush, and that seems in tune with the grotesqueness.

Thats true. The colors are very appropriate for the subject matter. Some of his faces remind me of Goya's Saturn.

I like this selfie by Walker Evans:

Walker Evans | Self-Portrait | The Met

I also like the caption below the image:

In the absence of firm knowledge as to the artist's intention in making this self-portrait, one might hypothesize that Evans was testing the shutter speed of his camera, portraying himself as a damned soul in hell, or exploring a way to describe the invisble interface between insanity and genius.