What Is The Value Of Self-Portraiture In The Midst Of The World Falling Apart?

[James Michael Lawrence]

I'm working at preparing documents and images for an archive at the University Of Minnesota - While looking back over my huge (but certainly not consistent) body of work - I have been sampling some of the hundreds of self-portraits I created during what I call my "lost years" - the 60s - the 70s - the 80s. For me - they serve as a mirror reflecting my life at the point where they were created - for someone else - they're probably not worth the bother of pouring over them. And then - earlier today - I found myself working on the image that accompanies this note. It makes me wonder exactly how far I've traveled (or have not traveled) since those decades. Any hint of technical expertise has certainly been abandoned ages ago - but the primal urge to investigate what lays beneath the surface of my consciousness - at age (soon to be) 64 - remains. I dunno. I guess it's better to illustrate it - rather than act out according to some of those old tapes. It leads me to ponder - how important is self-portraiture in the midst of the world falling apart? How much weight does a single person's story made visual amount to? Concerning my own self-portraiture - especially these days - it's just a lot of ink on paper. Or - is it?

[Ray Rolfe]

it's amazing that you could have archived so much individualized creativity. So much of my own work is strictly existing in digital, and is prone to the internet being shut down.
Just today I've been looking over my physical possessions of the past decade and I can't believe I had alot of it on wheels for so long. To have a "lost" 30 year flat file system would be wizardry.

That pregnant masked devil holding you in a static spectral spiral, is some deep mind, bro. Happy 65th Birthday when it comes.

Oh, what is the value....? Well, what else is there but Self-Portraiture In The Midst Of The World Falling Apart? It's like the phenomena of "reaction videos"

SSSS
For the familieas falsely enlisted.

[James Michael Lawrence]

Exactly. No one else may ever see the works we create that deal with our own visions of ourselves - be they strict visual reportage or emotional interpretations of how we see ourselves in the present - or in the past - but I believe it's important to continue doing so. The masked, pregnant demonic figure in this work is actually myself - exhibiting the poor posture I developed after years of physical/sexual/emotional abuse at the whims of my step-father. As an adult - I've had to deal with the realization that I possess both a good side and a bad side (we all do) - and for years it was the bad side that ruled the day - I was a monster - to put it bluntly. Now - it's a completely opposite situation. Being firmly entrenched in a more positive life - I often find myself taking a look back at that earlier time - and investigate the mechanics/dynamic/acting out of it. A well-known critic in this region recently urged (more or less) me to abandon "meaning" in my autobiographical art - and to stop "explaining" it to viewers. I dunno. Maybe the future will find anthropologists uncovering this area and find themselves more able to predict or interpret life as it existed at this point in time through the portraits artists (and non-artists) created of themselves. If nothing else - perhaps self-portraiture might serve to establish a context through which we may see - not only ourselves - but others - and the world we share - as well.