circumference
Ninety-nine self-portraits in the circumference of a cock ring.
Graphite, ink and gouache on mylar. Attached to wall with steel t-pins.
Image size - 2.25 inches in diameter Sheet size - 8.5 by 11 inches
Self-portraiture is a form of self-location. It is a means to understand where I am physically and emotionally, in addition to being a way to explore formal issues and materials.
Looking at Victorian miniature portraits was a catalyst for the format of the portraits. The elegant poses and presentation of the body in those portraits is evidence of devices (corsets, girdles, etc.) that hold and present the body for examination. This attention to containment, enhancement and repression very much eroticizes these images. I made a suite of 143 self-portraits that had a relationship to these images and the era that inspired them.
The circle is a specific space that I am exploring through drawing. I used the interior circumference of a cock ring as a measure. A device to enhance and hold the sexualized body, it functions as a sort of container for desire.
This work lays claim to a contained, sexualized space for the full expression of my personality.