Pleased to share the news that my 'Triple Selfie-Portrait' was the Third Place winner in the 8th Annual Spitting Image Juried Self-Portrait Exhibition co-Juried by the Nordic Heritage Museum’s Chief Curator Lizette Gradén and Seattle Art Museum Deputy Director for Education and Public Programs Sandra Jackson-Dumont.

In their comments, the judges noted that "... these [the award-winners] artists emphasize the personal and the existential and they comment on each in their own way, the topic of self and time." and that ".... Triple Selfie Portrait makes us think of a digital version of Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (link). It offers glimpses of multiple personas, projected visually through a number of techniques, all depicted through acrylic painting."

My painting was inspired by Norman Rockwell's Triple Self Portrait. In addition to being a masterpiece of composition, the original Norman Rockwell painting is also a wry and introspective commentary on the artist and their creation, on truth and beauty in the painted world, and how one views oneself vs. how one wants to present oneself to the world. 

Now that I look back at my own painting in the context of the judges words, it seems I have inadvertently captured some of the spirit of this self-reflection: After all, what exactly constitutes a self-portrait and a sense of self? The image of ourselves we hold in our mind? The image of ourselves we see in the mirror? The image of ourselves we try hard to capture to present (as a version of ourselves) to the world? The image captured on a permanent timeless medium such as paint? Or the image, one of hundreds, captured in an ethereal, malleable, medium such as digital photos - as easily discarded as taken...  as transient as a passing breath or a file format .... Time for some introspection, people!

Every year the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle hosts an annual self-portrait competition. This year I decided to base my entry on a painting I have always admired: Norman Rockwell's 'Triple Self-Portrait'.  

But rather than do a portrait of myself in the same pose, I thought it was time to make this more modern. Enter the 'Triple SELFIE-Portrait', in which the artist attempts to take a terrible selfie digital image:

I had fun with this painting.

For starters, to accentuate the idea of triple, I decided to restrict myself to only 3 colors: Black, White, and Quinacridone Burnt Orange. (Orange because (a) I like Orange; and (b) the sweatshirt I am wearing is the actual color seen above). (Also using the Orange as an underpainting ties all parts of the image together).

Then instead of using a canvas for the third portrait, I decided to use a Windows desktop (In many ways this is autobiographical because I used to work on Windows) with a JPG shown in the photo viewer, except this would be a terrible Selfie, the kind you get when the flash overwhelms the photo.

In the original painting, Norman Rockwell paid tribute to his inspirations by showing portraits of Rembrandt and Picasso tacked to his canvas-canvas. My variation is to paint in a tiny sketch of the Tripe-Portrait painting itself, but also as a JPG image, similar to how we actually use references these days.

Finally the little gnome-ish fella in the lower right corner is representative of some of my current fun work hanging in various venues around town.

Once or twice a year, the Atelier I am a part of (at the Gage Academy of Art) puts up a group show. This year we were fortunate enough to snag a prime location - the Axis Gallery in the heart of Seattle's Art Scene in Pioneer Square. We put up over 120 works by 20 artists and had a grand opening as part of the monthly First Thursday Seattle Art Walk. The opening was attended by hundreds of people which was a record turn-out for any Pioneer Square gallery. Thanks everyone who came by!  

This somewhat-creepy heart is going into a show titled [ <3 ] - which is all about heart-shaped art, loosely affiliated with the valentine month of Feb. The starting point for the show are laser-cut heart shaped patterns to which each artist brings their own interpretation leading to some very creative and interesting outcomes many of which are worth admiring in person.

Come see the show during Feb 6th First Thursday Art Walk at Trabant Coffee and Chai in Pioneer Square ...

A great art show opening at Local Color. Thanks to everyone who came. If you missed the opening, the show will be up all through Feb and March so there's plenty of time to see it. Local Color is open every day at 1606 Pike Place, Seattle.