New Work: Self-portrait (mirror)

About a month ago, I completed my fifth mirror piece.  Since then, I haven’t created another, so it’s about time I talk about ‘em.  (You can check out each mirror by clicking here, as I believe that more mirrors will be added in the future.)

Self-portrait (mirror) #1, You look better online.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I shifted my material choices from photographic prints to mirrors and vinyl electrical tape.  One huge reason was moolah.  All in all, I spent zero dollars on creating these pieces of work because I had vinyl tape and mirrors laying around my studio.  Sometimes, everything you need is right under your nose!

 

This summer has been a huge truth seeking time for me.  I’ve always known that an artist should speak the truth, speak from the heart, bla bla bla.  I am a highly superficial guy.  Everything is surface.  I’m a pretty empty guy deep down inside.  I’m cold and dumb.  I respond to my environment so easily because I have nothing inside to stop me, like you know, morals.  However, I’m definitely growing!  Lately, I’ve been feeling like the Tin Man at his moment he gets his heart—it’s like an entirely new experience and it’s weird.

Self-portrait (mirror) #2, You should totally make this your new MySpace pic.

 

So it’s not surprising that I would be quite hesitant to speak my own truth, which for most of my life, was simply what I saw in the mirror—nothing deeper than that pimple on my forehead or the color of my bleached hair.  Before I photographed myself during a shoot, I would give myself a quick check in the mirror to make sure I was done up right and ready to go for the camera.  In a way, what I saw in the mirror would help me create the identity that I ultimately portrayed.

 

It’s not surprising then, that as a blogger I spend a lot of time at my computer and online.  Like any good Internet user, I am a big social networker, specifically with Facebook and recently divorced from MySpace.  I think that I actively created an online identity that seemed wonderful and more exciting than real life.  I wanted to show this obsession with these mirror pieces.

 

Each statement on each mirror is hands-down an absolute truth that I would say to myself.  In fact, each statement is definitely something that I’ve heard myself say to others and others say to me.  And guess what?  It’s understood!  That doesn’t mean your shallow like me, it simply means that there is an understanding that something is different from who you are in front of that mirror and the person you are online. 

Self-portrait (mirror) #3, No worries, you can Photoshop that.

 

The text of the font is the ever so popular Helvetica.  I love how the text interacts with the viewer, and yet with a slight perception change, can completely disappear as one looks past the words and directly at his/her reflection.  I also added the rainbow color scheme because I love the scheme, and wanted to point fingers at the online gay community, which from my experience, is a highly manipulated arena with a very specific standard of beauty.  And really, what else is a mirror’s purpose but to check out your own beauty?

 

While I was creating the mirror pieces, I definitely thought about the idea of ‘you’ versus ‘i’.  By stating ‘you,’ I feel as if I, the artist, am present and expressing my opinion to you, the viewer.  I also thought about the mirror from Snow White and the famous line, “mirror mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all”.  It’s as if the mirror speaks the truth and is telling you, the viewer, what that truth is.

Self-portrait (mirror) #4, You’re gonna get tagged on Facebook tonight.

 

What’s rough for me is knowing that I’m an empty vessel and having to look at that in the mirror.  ”Oh god, don’t look at me, I’m hideous,” kinda thing.  It’s like, “well hey, there’s that shell of a thing again”.  It’s almost like the words stuck on the mirror spark something inside of me that gives me purpose and meaning in life:  Oh yes, I’m not empty, I have a life… online!  Which reminds me of affirmations that people write themselves.  One stereotype of a crazy woman finding focus is the action of her writing a message to herself on a mirror with red lipstick.  These messages usually state something with ‘you’ rather than ‘i’.  “You Matter.”  “You are beautiful.”  “You will get through this.”

Self-portrait (mirror) #5, Next time you take a pic, hold the camera from up here. It makes you look better than if you hold it from here.

 

I really love the hyper-interactive nature of the piece above, titled Self-portrait (mirror) #5, Next time you take a pic, hold the camera from up here. It makes you look better than if you hold it from here.  The piece is literally telling you how to take a better self-portrait pic!  And then I absolutely love the piece on a medicine cabinet titled Self-portrait (mirror) #3, No worries, you can Photoshop that because it just works.  Whenever I stare into the mirror in a bathroom, it’s like, skin inspection time.  For some reason, our culture is obsessed with clear skin, and so like any pop-culture follower, I know that my skin is a vital identifier of who I am.  If I only exist online, I don’t have to stress out about my awful skin because in a moment, I can manipulate my skin in Photoshop.

 

The best part about these pieces, for me, is that I can physically see the idea.  With my photographs for the past couple of years, I haven’t been able to see anything fully realized because it’s just too expensive to do.  And yes, I hand cut each and every letter (from a stencil).  I love working with my hands and having a lot of self-pressure to be as precise as possible (Ooo, secret number nine of the mystery that is Jeffrey Augustine Songco…). 

 

Enjoy the work and I hope to have many more mirrors to come!  If you’ve got any mirrors you’re looking to get rid of, pass ‘em along to me—I’d gladly take ‘em off your hands.