tj, the wizard of photography

signed sealed delivered! wow... what a great experience. i loved making this piece...though my hands are a bit worse for wear. that photo fabric is really woven very tightly and this piece is all hand quilted. i loved putting the photos together and i want to do more of that. i will try it with my own fabric and bubble jet next time. i was in a hurry to get this one done so it wasn't an option. here is the info if any of you are in the portland area and want to go... its a lovely space. and the pieces that were being hung when i was there were really good. this will be an interesting show. so you can get a feel for what's going on here, i included an artists statement at the end.

'Spread Ego'
organized for PLACE by TJ Norris

Pioneer Place Mall / 3rd Floor
700 SW Fifth Avenue

December 4, 2010 - January 31, 2011
Opening Reception 12/18, 5-8PM
Gallery Hours: Wed-Sat 12-6PM

artist statement:

“A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The

larger the denominator the smaller the fraction.” - Leo Tolstoy

SPREAD EGO

Is it really possible to feed the ego?

I’m a difficult subject. The whole notion of posing really makes me uncomfortable, silly. In years past I’ve

referred to myself as ‘an acquired taste’ to potential suitors– often allowing adequate time for pause. As a

maker I’m almost exclusively behind the lens of the camera, often shooting the inanimate -- poised

outside the frame. Though this frame is self-defined. Perhaps pieces of my personality may surface in the

work over time, but the viewer would have to be a master decoder to decrypt my soul as its ticking.

“If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am.

There's nothing behind it.” - Andy Warhol

The reluctant subject: In this piece it was hard to initially imagine dozens of images of myself made by the

hands of fellow artists, all to be hung staring out into a single space. If anything this project is something

of an inversion on the subject, or rather, an anti-self-portrait -- less about me the person, less about the

history of portraiture on the grande scale and more about all its supple implications. But there’s a baseline

here, one of absurdity and of allowance -- and my penchant to allow certain curatorial sensibilities to take

over guiding this course to search and find a more critical role (super-ego) to unleash such a dialogue.

And for this I’m honored that a large handful of artists were willing to create portraits of me to be shown

collectively, to breathe a collective voice (or sigh as it were). And if I told you the thought of seeing these

amassed will make me blush would you believe me?

“The higher we soar, the smaller we seem to those who cannot fly.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

Did you know that the possible derivation for the word narcissus could mean sleep or numbness? There

is a lot of myth and fallacy around what constitutes ones ego, in particular the artist’s ego. It is from the

deep self in which one projects the core of their being through a physical/tangible medium. It’s the

impression of others that becomes the public eye. Through the history of the artists’ gaze many have

been portrayed in their best light, classically commissioned for court portraiture. But this idealism speaks

as loudly as the flat surface. You cannot buy your own self image, it’s often handed back to you, and not

always on a platter.

“There used to be a me behind the mask, but I had it surgically removed.” - Peter Sellers

Over the last three decades of studio work I have discovered that there is this innate sense to just let fate

take place, and allow the self to be substituted for outside intervention. To let things dry and meld with the

elements. What I am most interested in emerging in ‘Spread Ego’ is a sense of letting go of my own

image to a sense of trust, acceptance, perspective and gaze. In these works artists are fully allowed

license to fill certain gaps, flaws included. As I age my body changes and things find settle and disruption.

‘Spread Ego’ incites and embraces that change. It reminds me of the posturing in the Grace Jones song

“I’m Not Perfect, But I’m Perfect For You”. A time-based reality check.

TJ Norris

December 2010