Self-Portrait 1982

Ivan Albright made this self-portrait in 1982, and it's a drawing, mostly in black and white. There's a sense of him emerging, like a ghost in the machine. You know, it's funny looking at another artist’s self-portrait because you can't help but imagine what they were thinking, looking in the mirror, confronting their own image. There’s this incredible vulnerability and strength in looking. I love the way he's used line here. They’re kind of scratchy and nervous, right? But there's also this incredible confidence in the way he's describing the planes of his face. Look at the way the lines around his eyes almost seem to map his life, each one a little wrinkle of experience. It reminds me a little of the drawings of Klimt, or even some of those late self-portraits by Rembrandt. And isn’t that what art is all about? Artists riffing off of each other, taking what they love, and twisting it into something new and personal. It's a beautiful, ongoing conversation.