Self Portraits

The Past can cover, can create this formulae and example for what works. I mean, that looking at photographs of now dead, but established artists often sets the standard and puts the work on a pedestal of sorts.
Something to emulate if you like. Does nostalgia enhance their value, and add all the more to their greatness? Possible, but as a work, as an image stripped bare of time factor, with no reference to the life and background of the artist, this is where the heart of the matter lies. This is where an image will stand the test of time through it's aesthetic strength, amongst other vital aspects.

As for the future, browsing through the likes of flickr/myspace and the vast amount of self portraits featured I felt a little saddened especially at several sites devoted to self portraiture, specifically because they really did not work for me. I guess they bordered on the narcisistic and lacked intrigue for me. In a way they ruined what self portraiture means, and as someone who plays within this medium I was taken aback. Then you question yourself all the more. But then who am I to judge? That is the nature of the beast, the beast we call 'Art': not everyone will 'get' you, will approve...And this personal side of self portraiture that is inescapable is all the more rocky, all the more dangerous to the fragile soul.

Working the Self, The Self that works
Claude Cahun, Self Portrait, 1927