I came across these works by Richard Hamilton, which greatly inspired me to make my own version of them. I am a great admirer of the Pop Art movement, and its inclusion of colour in art as symbol for elevated state of being and representative of the art historical canons.
As quoted on the Tate website: “Richard Hamilton was a key figure in the British and international Pop Art movements, as well as being one of its main theoreticians. The majority of his work is concerned with the art historical traditions in contemporary art. ‘Four Self-Portraits 05.3.81’ takes portraiture as its starting point, using new media to expand its boundaries. Instead of limiting the portrait to a single image, Hamilton uses four. In the early 1980s, the artist took Polaroids of himself and added layers of acrylic colour. After ten years, he digitally converted the photos into transparencies to be made into enlarged prints. Mounted on canvas, they epitomize the layered way in which Hamilton’s works deal with artistic media.”
MC's Blog 