Getty Museum
Photo-Transformation, 1976
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
- 1976
- Medium
- Polaroid SX-70 dye diffusion print
- Culture
- American
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- ce82478b-1ad3-4da1-be79-c3107e0f5071
From the Getty Museum record
Submerged in narcissism, nothing remains . . . but "me and myself, I am my own audience, the other, contemplating my existence." Made in the 1970s as a means of studying himself, Lucas Samaras's photographs illustrate the internal struggle that can occur between conflicting aspects of one personality. Bent over a captain's chair, Samaras rests his head as if he is at the guillotine. Another blurry form hovers above, about to violently attack the submissive figure. Samaras made his Photo-Transformations, a series of self-portraits, with SX-70 Polaroid film. Still wet, the film's emulsions could be manipulated to alter the finished image. He used straight pins, rubber erasers, and other simple tools to "draw" into the developing surface. For this portrait, he created a diamond pattern over and around the dominant figure that underscores the frenzy of motion.
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