Getty Museum
Photo-Transformation, November 22, 1973
Creator
Lucas SamarasAmerican Photographer · 1936–2024
All works by this person →Lucas Samaras was already known as a sculptor, painter, and performance artist when he began experimenting with photography. In his early work, which includes multi-media assemblages, he often included images of himself. The persistent use of himself as a subject has led one critic to remark that "Samaras's almost obsessional self-observation extends past narcissism toward a physical understanding
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- November 22, 1973
- Medium
- Polaroid SX-70 dye diffusion print
- Culture
- American
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
In this self-portrait, Lucas Samaras reaches out as if trapped in the photograph. In sharp contrast to the indistinct background of his upper body, his crisply defined fingers curl forward, as if he is searching for a way to transcend a two-dimensional world of his own creation. An overriding sense of claustrophobia defines this image, underscored by the small scale of the Polaroid print. Samaras, a hermit-like person, made many Polaroid self-portraits like this in the 1970s as a means of observing himself. The images are open to a wide range of interpretation. Here, Samaras may have tried to convey the sense of isolation he experiences as a reclusive person.
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