Selfies are everywhere, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill. But all previous manifestations of the self-actualizing photographic method pale in comparison to the glorious self-portraits of a certain Roberto Foddai.
Goodbye duck face, hello wonderfully bizarre costume vaguely inspired by Frida Kahlo.
We were instantly enchanted by Foddai's work when we encountered it on the web. We were also intrigued by his non-pretentious and totally hilarious artist statement:
1. I like to be other people as I am often bored of myself.
2. It is easier to be boring in my daily life and dressing up in photographs fills the need I often have to be different.
We only wish our boredom could be channeled into such fruitful artistic pursuits.
Foddai explained the process behind the series in greater detail to The Huffington Post. "I have always been interested in self-portraiture even before the 'selfie” phenomenon,'" he said. "I am interested in how artists present themselves through their work. It started as a side project but every time time my work was selected for an exhibition or a publication curators would always select my self-portraits. I have then started to concentrate on them and very slowly became the main part of my work."
The self-portraits, somewhere between Cindy Sherman and Gene Parmesan, mix art historical savviness with a healthy dose of random weirdness. While Sherman's disguises often reveal or critique a certain facet of the feminine image, we get the feeling Foddai is just really bored, following his imagination to guide him to very strange lands.
"The idea behind the self portraits is very simple," Foddai continued. "I am bored with myself most of the time and I would like to be many people. This can’t happen in my real life so I make it happen in my art. I believe in fluidity and what I am trying to say is that you can be anything regardless of your gender, age, nationality and so on. I did not want the images to be overly produced... I wanted them to feel fresh and immediate."
We never thought we'd find boredom and selfies so inspiring. See Foddai's wonderful addition to the new photography genre below and let us know if you're ready to up your selfie game in the comments.
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