Reading Post 1

After finishing reading the post about selfies and self-portraits, it brought to me a new way of looking at these arts, mostly selfies. In the article, Carbon brought up a very interesting point of view where self-portraits or selfies are not only an expression of the looking of the current self, instead it also reflects the current state of the person. And especially the current state of the person brought up the my memory of the self-portrait drew by Vicent Van Gogh

I am very honored to see this copy of self-portrait in person in the Art Museum of Chicago. While first looking at it, it did not give me much emotion. It was purely just a good artist drawing himself. But when I look at this painting again with the new way of thinking, it starts to give me chills. Because when I search up the life story of Van Gogh, I start to understand his mental state. He was never a happy person, in fact he had suffered from depression and anxiety. After knowing his life story, this painting of himself becomes more and more interesting. I almost felt I could look at his eye and make eye contact with him, he is telling a story in this paint.

Now that it gives me a new point of view, I start to look for some more self-portraits and try to understand their state of mind at the time. It helps me think and understand their time and stories, gives me a new way and perspective to view and understand the current world we are living in.

The last thing I want to talk about are selfies. What is the difference between selfies and self-portraits? Of course, I am not talking about the difference between paints and camera, but instead what thoughts or emotion are we trying to express when we take selfies? Could there be one day after 100 years where our selfies were digged out and being studied as digital art?