Exhibition Statement

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as juror for this fine self-portrait exhibition. The works were overall of high quality, reflecting much thought, insight, and hard work.

In many cases, the artists included in the gallery and online exhibitions were interested in capturing their likenesses in fairly traditional or conventional ways. Occasionally, artists chose a more abstract approach, representing themselves through objects of interest or through gestures and passages of color. Whatever the style of self-representation, each piece used metaphor and symbolism to present views of the self that allowed me and will allow viewers in general to see within the artists to glimpse at an internal reality.

I mentioned the word "reflecting" above. The notion of reflection seems relevant here, since so often artists use a mirror in creating a self-portrait. When artists make a self-portrait, they are attempting to capture a reflection, whether the reflection is on the mirror's surface or in the artists' minds as they think about their personality traits, features, or other indicators of identity.

I encourage all the included artists to continue with their self-examinations, thinking about their faces, their interests, their influences, and those special facets of themselves that make them and their art fascinating and worthwhile in sharing. I feel that through this judging opportunity I have met many interesting people that have revealed much about themselves and the state of being a living human being in a complex and challenging world.

Gregg Hertzlieb
Exhibition Juror