Self Portrait(s) [as Other(s)]

Talan Memmott’s piece Self Portrait(s) [as Other(s)] speaks toward a multiplicity of texts which combine and recombine, both informing each new artist and changing the previous one. Not only are portraits of the artists a collage of all the other artists’ portraits, the perspectives, tones, styles, and sizes are all jumbled together, making the reader very aware of the composition. When the illusion of reality is destroyed, the picture is flattened. The same thing happens in the text as well. Repeated phrases and anecdotes are transplanted over time and space, flattening the depth of the text, making no mistake over the “truth” of the biography’s reality. Although the flattening of the painting is a very modern idea, the flattening of the text is a postmodern one, where multiple texts form an intertwining reality where it is not a matter of picking which one is true, since they are all on equal footing. Unless a reader is intimately familiar with these painters, the initial stories sound reasonable and entertaining. However, as the reader progresses through these texts, the overlapping of these lives becomes obvious, forcing a revision of the preceding texts in the light of this new information. This could be construed as a reflexive information loop, where the base information changes as it is filtered through the reader and back to the texts. Binary code could considered a way to flatten signifiers since binary is based in the fact that there is one signifier for every signified: 0=no, 1=yes.
The piece is designed to show how previous texts inform latter texts, and vice versa. The title of the piece places emphasis on the author/reader relationship, highlighting the “Other” as a symbiotic intertwining of the two. Memmott’s composition of these artists changes how was see them, pointing toward the larger idea of how each artist has changed the others as well. The format plays into this fact, by having the reader participate in the time-space release of information. A reader can skip artists or skip some of the text if one so wishes, which will invariably change the reading of the piece. However, the piece is also designed to begin with a different artist each time it is loaded, with (I assume) a random algorithm for which artist comes after the next. This creates all kinds of readings based on the interaction of the piece.
Although this piece favors the interconnectivity of all “texts”, there are a lot of “texts” not represented. We are given a time frame of 1746-1954, but the artists are all Western cannon painters. Painters, necessarily because of they deal in self-portraits the most, but a simple feminist reading of this piece would have to point to lack of women and non-western artists. Although there were considerably fewer female artists during this time, the piece’s flattening, an equalizing effect, would be a perfect opportunity to include the marginalized as having an equal ground as “texts” that inform all other texts. Obviously an all-inclusive writing of the piece would be impossible since there are infinite texts, which is why Memmott narrows it down in time and medium. However, even within these frames and infinite amount of texts are left out, something which must be done if the piece is going to be made.