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Michael Druks - Photo Collage with Sellotape - Self Defaced Portrait
מיכאל דרוקס - פוטו קולאז' עם סלוטייפ - השתקה עצמית
The five part work of self-portraits collage photographs displayed here was prepared by Michael Druks on 1973. Druks looks at his own face as a legitimate object for a systematic objective study that can be seen, touched, manipulated and investigated - an approach which has a lot in common with current modern brain-science research. This fact is rather surprising and worth our admiration if we take into account that Druks works in the early 70s preceded the establishment of many of today's most new scientific insights about the working of the human brain and the understanding of its special abilities in studying and deciphering human faces.
Michael Druks Collage - Self Defaced Portrait
The experiment which Druks is conducting in this sequence of photo-collages seems quite simple at first look: he is gradually covering his face with stripes of yellow, semi-transparent Sellotape; but of course, this work is more sophisticated than the first look suggests. Does the Sellotape cover the photograph of the face, or does it cover the actual face which is then being photographed? This question is really at the very heart of the matter, and the answer that Druks offers agrees with the answer that modern brain scientists provide, namely, that it is hard if not impossible to separate between the self and the way it represents or perceives itself.
In the first piece, collage No 1, there are four short yellow stripes which hold the photograph of a complete un-defaced and somewhat innocent looking face of the artist attached to the white cardboard. Then, if you look closely at collage No 2, you see that the single long stripe that goes along a diagonal axis actually touches the face. You can see that the symmetry of the previous picture is distorted, that the lips have tightened up where the Sellotape is touching them and that the left eye is slightly more open.
This feeling becomes clearer and stronger with every new stripe that is subsequently added in collages No 3, No 4 and No 5. You can see and feel how the Sellotape squeezes down the hair and almost cuts the flesh of the chicks. However, in all of the pieces of this work, the Sellotape is also present in the plane of the photograph serving the same function of attaching it to the white cardboard. Druks emphasizes the continuity of the face wrapping-strangling process, and makes his best to form the transition of the stripes between the real face and the photograph as smooth as possible. He also strictly keeps the same staring forward and somewhat horrified expression of the object through the whole burdening and suffocating stripes-accumulating process.
This unique five-part work collage photographs is not the outcome of temporal improvisation - Druks was known as an artist who planned his actions down to the last detail. The name of the work may represent his intentions and hints on some of the tough feelings he had had during the year of 73, but, as in all of Druks works, there is always enough space for the observer's metaphors and interpretations. The cutting stripes can represent anything from the effect of time, aging and the stress of life up to a symbolic embodiment of political oppression and modern government horrors. However, my preferred interpretation for this work may be a little bit more tautological: What do we really see when we look at ourselves?
Michael Druks Self Defaced Portrait - Photo Collage No 1
Michael Druks Self Defaced Portrait - Photo Collage No 2
Michael Druks Self Defaced Portrait - Photo Collage No 3
Michael Druks Self Defaced Portrait - Photo Collage No 4
Michael Druks Self Defaced Portrait - Photo Collage No 5
עבודות הקולאז' והצילום של האמן הישראלי מיכאל דרוקס בראשית שנות ה-70 היו בעלות אופי חתרני והפכו עד מהרה לנקודות ציון באמנות הבינלאומית. בנסיונותיו המרתקים להתמודד עם התודעה האנושית המתפתחת כחלק מהמהפכה הטכנולוגית, עשה דרוקס שימוש חדשני בתחומי מדיה מגוונים ועזי ביטוי. הסדרה הנדירה של חמשת עבודות הפוטו-קולאז' המוצגת פה לפניכם, שייכת אמנם להגדרה הכללית "דיוקן עצמי של האמן" אבל, כמו שמרמז שמה - הלך פה דרוקס באופן ישיר ובוטה פנימה אל תוך התחושה הקשה והבלתי ניתנת להכחשה של אדם, אמן וצופה, החופר, חותך ואוטם את פניו ואת עצמו.
Michael Druks Biography - ביוגרפיה של מיכאל דרוקס
Michael Druks signature on the last collage in the Self-Defaced Portrait series.
מיכאל דרוקס, אמן עצמאי, אוטודידקט שלא למד צילום או קולנוע ושעבודותיו תויגו על ידי המבקרים כ"מקרינות איכות לא אליטיסטית" הקדים את זמנו וביטא בשנת 1973, בפוטו-קולאז' של פניו המשתאות, אמיתות שחוקרי מדעי המוח מאששים כיום תוך שימוש בטכנולוגיות מודרניות וזמינות: מחקרים מדעיים עדכניים מבוססי טכנולוגיות הדמייה כגון fMRI, PET ו-SPECT מוכיחים באופן נחרץ שאין אפשרות להפריד בין תפיסת העצמי לבין תפיסת המציאות של אותו עצמי.
Size of
collages (with cardboard):
1' 3.7" x 1' 9.3" - 41.5 cm x 54 cm - 15.7 in x 21.3 in
Type of frame: not framed
Painting technique: Colored photo-collage on cardboard
with Sellotape
Origin: Israel - England
Date: 1973
Signature: "M.DRUKS" - signed in English and dated
by the artist on the lower right-hand side of the 5th photo-collage. This five-part work is the first and probably the sole instance 1/20 out of a
planned series of 20 works which was not released
Pricee: Call
References:
"Druksland" by Michael Druks - Collage Drawing
"Municipal Notice Board with Tea" - Sandwich Assemblage & Collage Drawing by Michael Druks
Michael Druks - Assemblage Sculpture - Wooden Objects with Forks
Michael Druks - Ink and Synthetic Paint on Paper - Politicians on Stage
Michael Druks - Biography and list of exhibitions
Item: P1035/PAI164 - Michael Druks Photo Collage Portrait
© Dan Levy - Art Pane Home of Original Israeli Paintings and Sculptures
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