Self Portrait/ There's Someone in My Head...

Ian Phillips McLaren (b. 1960) is a British contemporary artist, his varied practice combines contemporary and 19th century photographic processes, video, sculpture, performance and animation.

His body of work examines dementia as a state of being, memory, personal identity and the construction of self in our visual culture, portraiture and self-representation.

Ian’s current work, The ‘Self’ & The ‘Other’ is an exploration of the ‘Self’ through the lens of ancient Roman portraiture – The ‘Other’ referring to the ways in which identities are formed.

“By combining traditional 5×4 inch analogue paper negatives of my self with hybrid digital negatives of ancient Roman portraits and fragments, I’m re-imagining the historical self-portrait, in a similar vein to how the Romans re-imagined (Hellenistic) Greek art for their own purposes”.

‘Self Portrait/ There’s someone in My Head…’ is an investigation of the inner ‘self’ through a Jungian lens.

Phillips McLaren has hand-crafted four effigies representing Jung’s four main archetypes, which, when combined, represent the whole ‘Self’.

Each video-sculpture characterises separate aspects of his identity, performing independently but at the same time, collectively creating a single self-portrait in a three-dimensional environment.

These performances range in delivery and dialogue and are designed to engage the viewer on multiple levels.

Phillips McLaren disrupts any emotional response to the piece by revealing the mechanisms of its operation.

The Future Now Exhibition, Ruskin Gallery & Studios, Cambridge

Below are the videos of the actual installation works and some social media promos.

Above:
A walk through video of the actual installation:
Self Portrait/ There’s Someone in My Head… At ‘The Future Now’ art exhibition.

Above:
Installation & promo clips:
Self Portrait/ There’s Someone in My Head… At ‘The Future Now’ art exhibition.

Above:
The first set-up I did of:
Self Portrait/ There’s Someone in My Head… At ‘The Future Now’ art exhibition.

Above:
A one minute social media promotional video:
Self Portrait/ There’s Someone in My Head… At ‘The Future Now’ art exhibition.

Above:
Animation for ‘The Shadow Self’ piece, which is part of the:
‘Self Portrait/ There’s someone in My Head…’ installation.