Pat Steir’s Self-Portrait: Reprise 1987-2009 is now on display at the New York Studio School, but has been an evolving art work ever since its inception at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in 1987. The one-of-a-kind exhibit slightly varies from its original form in every space it is displayed in, because it is applied directly to the space’s walls. Thus, depending on the space and the installers the work appears in an acutely different formation each time. In this instance, the walls of the gallery are painted in 18 layers of violet, black, and blue tones along with a golden grid layered on top of the body forms in the first room.

Although titling it “self-portrait” is appropriate — because like a person the art has morphed over time, the title is also somewhat of a misnomer. The work challenges the viewer’s preconceived notion of a “self-portrait” due to the fact that it is not a portrait of the artist, but rather the first room’s large nude figures are inspired by Albrecht Durer’s figures from Menschelijcke Proportion, 1528, and the second room is filled with representations of noses and lips appropriated from Alexander Cozens’s Principles of Beauty Relative to the Human Head. These universal human figures, that could be a representation of anyone, are the perfect vehicles to illustrate the Buddhist philosophy of non-self that the gallery cites as an important philosophy when viewing this artwork.

New York Studio School
Pat Stier’s Self-Portrait: Reprise 1987-2009
Until Dec. 19, 2009
8 W 8th St, New York, Ny 10011 Phone: +1 (212) 673-6466 Fax: +1 (212) 777-0996