Self Portrait Dead (Over the hills and far away)
2007
Ben Quilty’s Self Portrait Dead (Over the Hills and Far Away) 2007 is a study in contemporary narcissism. Tackling the traditional portraitists’ struggle with mortality, Quilty’s ‘selfie’ is not a literal death but rather a figurative one – the result of a big, drunken night out with his mates. Photographic versions clog social media newsfeeds after every other weekend, but are fleeting captures that are scrolled past and forgotten from then onwards. By crafting his likeness in something tangible and permanent, a thick and lustrous swathe of painted permanence, Quilty has taken the 21st century obsession with personal image to a new level. Not only has he taken his own image but he has attached a commercial value to it – more cock-sure than Narcissus though, he assumes (and necessarily requires) that somebody else will ‘fall in love’ with his image even in its ugly state of sub-consciousness.
The portrait, like much of Quilty’s work, is capturing a contemporary understanding of Australian masculinity and mortality. Inspired by a culture he himself long participated in, his subject is the end result of the initiation rite of self-annihilation through alcohol and drugs. A rite not even restricted by gender anymore, today’s youth seem unable (or unwilling) to escape the destruction that’s seen as a common part of ‘growing up’. Without reason or response for this self-destructive drive, Quilty does as an artist what teen selfies do not - represents it blatantly on a respected platform to society.
The work itself is a context-less close-up of his face, tilted back and with eyes closed. The sunken eyes and disturbingly serene expression are formed by the unpainted voids of his forehead, cheeks and chin. Representative of his iconic style, harried and aggressive lashings of paint have been trowelled onto the canvas, thick enough to toe the line between painting and sculpture. He used cake-decorating tools to massage the layers and colours into coherent form over a mere couple of hours, his energetic paintwork held in check by contour and tone. Striking both close up and at a distance, it shows a remarkable sense of composition and spatial awareness.
The work didn’t start out as a self-portrait, but rather as a nameless portrayal of the death wish of the Australian male. The idea took his form when he aligned his own experience with the drive to live ‘hard and fast’ in the moment. It became an unsentimental eye cast over himself and indeed, everyone who has ever been in the same state. Recognisably Quilty, the mimetic quality of the work is clear but a stark objectivity remains that suggests a record of outer surface more than inner soul. Unlike other contemporary portraiture that captures a personality rather than a person, Self Portrait Dead (Over the Hills and Far Away) reveals less about the sitter and more about a societal condition.
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