GRAHAM GUSSIN
Born in 1960, London (UK). Lives and works in London.
Know Nothing, Self Portrait as X-The Man with X-Ray Eyes, 2003
Photograph, 52.5 x 42.4
Colección Fonds national d’art contemporain. Ministère de la culture et de la communication, Paris. N° Inv. 05-758
In his self portrait Graham Gussin is wearing black contact lenses that, in this image, serve as a response to the photograph Rovesciare i propri occhi (1970) by the Italian artist Giuseppe Penone, who put forward the allegory of an introspective vision.
Furthermore, it contains in its title an explicit reference to Roger Corman’s film X-The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963), in which, explains Gussin, “the main character creates a solution that facilitates x-ray vision. He starts to see through everything, until he realises that the power to see everything leaves nothing left to see.” The desire of absolute visibility, like the desire for knowledge, drives him to his aporia; opacity, black-out, total blindness.
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