EPPH - Every Painter Paints Himself

What do Contemporary Artists Know?

Why do so many contemporary artists place themselves at the center of their work? Think about it. Yasamusa Morimura paints himself into his copies after old masterpieces; he’s not the only one to do so either. Cindy Sherman has photographed herself in hundreds of disguises taken from art; Liu Bolin paints his own body in such a way that he can’t be seen in his photographs though he’s always there. Then there are the Performance artists like Vito Acconci and Marina Abramovic whose own person is always central to their work. Let’s not forget the Body artists too like Dennis Oppenheim whose art is on themselves. The list continues. Is this a modern phenomenon unconnected to the art of the past or is it possible that all these artists have figured out what links one period of art to another: the image of the artist’s own mind.

I am only one researcher but in fifteen years I have yet to come across a significant artist whom I have studied in depth who did not “paint” himself. And while my knowledge of contemporary art is more limited than for other periods I can’t help wondering whether all these living artists too know something that academic art historians do not: that every painter paints himself. Am I crazy? Or is there a link?