Keith Cottingham

Fictitious Portrait series, 1993

digitally constructed photograph, chromogenic color photograph
46 x 38 in., each of 3 images
Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts

In this series, I use the computer as a tool to draw upon traditional sculptures, models, photography, and drawings, and through the use of digital painting and montage, ideas materialize into finished photographic prints. The realism in my work serves as a revealing mirror of ourselves and our inventions, both beautiful and horrific.

The images themselves are portraits of a youth. By combining myself with others, these imaginary portraits expose the movement and development of the ìSelf.î The soul is not seen as a solidified being, but is exposed as multiple personalities, each expressing a different view of the ìSelf.î

I hope to simultaneously challenge what the viewer perceives as portraiture and question the alienation and fragmentation of image from matter, body from soul.