The impulse to create one’s own image is as old as time itself. It was a special power that artists possessed, and countless among them have used this gift to render themselves on canvas.
Today, the artist’s hitherto special power has been handed to an entire generation through the discovery and proliferation of the selfie camera. The myth of Narcissus, as he gazed at the beauty of his own image in the still, unrippled surface of a pond, is echoed across the world by the young and the old alike, posing for their own camera. In the last decade each individual with a smart device can present herself or himself to the world in a new, improved and filtered avatar. Is this seemingly frivolous act of taking a selfie entirely different from the art of the self-portrait? This exhibition features eminent artists in selfie mode. It would be sacrilegious to compare the skill and mastery on display in these works to the casual act of ‘taking a selfie’. However, as we encounter these works, we see that they present artists exactly as they wish to be seen and understood - just like a selfie does