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8 Years Ago
Well I am not sure if it is political, but ethical perhaps.
I recently made this piece as a protest against societys conditioning - it is the first art I have ever done where I tried to make such a statement that cut so close to my core:
So this is a rather interesting piece on my part. Originally I felt bad that nearly all of my self portraits have me holding the camera to take them. I don't have anybody else to take pictures for me so I take them all myself. So I decided to do a facetious attempt at a camera advertisement, in this case the camera being fujifilm. I made myself like an abercrombie and fitch model, focusing away from the viewer to keep the camera as the focus.
As I have grown however I have come under fire for being too skinny by a beefier "bearish" community, and so I wished, for my own amusement, to see how I might look if I did indeed "beef up" somehow.. if it is even possible for my body type. I am a master at photo manipulation in photoshop and so I "morphed" myself to look bigger.
From a casual view it would appear like I took the same photo with the same pose progressively throughout my "bearification" process, but it's a deception - just like the commercial worlds deception of changing images to be what is considered mainstream attractive, or society changing us to be how they consider acceptable by shunning us if we are not. It reveals the process - the ugly truth people don't want you to see - the before and after - the aggrandization of perceived faults to idealized societal norms.
The first panel is unaltered - although ironically even it was touched up from the original - certain stray hairs removed - the background removed and placed on a white backdrop - just minor tweaks that many people do without thinking just to prep a shot. The second one is where the morphing begins, in the face, and some beefing up of the body. The third one I had shaved my upper lip so I brought some of the mustache hair back into prominence. The fourth one I beefed myself up even more in the body, increasing my arms and chest.
This artwork is thus in itself a mockery of that - a political and spiritual statement from and to myself that yes, I could be this, if that is what I wanted to be, but as it stands, I am happy being me, and thus while I may by any of those pics at any time, in the end, they are all still me, and in the end, ALL acceptable, IF I choose, but ONLY if "I" choose.
On a side note I look like I am some sort of bulky spanish/mexican wrestler in the last one, avenging his family or something haha.. fun.. it was a fun experiment to say the least, and maybe one day I'l look like that.. or want to look like that who knows.. but at the end of the day, and for now I am happy being "skinny" and I hope everyone else learns to like me for me too, and one day, if I wish to change, it will be because it was my personal decision based out of health, not because society told me to; and maybe eventually mainstream society will become less self loathing of what life creates them as and don't feel the need to change to fit some sort of mold.
What do you think?
---Shawn Dall
ShawnDall.com
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