‘My black ass’, one of the opening works in this American artist’s first UK show, is a bold, aggressive, confident and political gif animation; it’s a challenge, a threat. Throughout the works here – sculptures, gifs, paintings and collages – Self presents herself as a black American woman intent on defining her body through her art.
Figures and body parts are twisted, exaggerated and distended. In the paintings and collages in particular, male and female bodies get magnified and pulled apart – Self is deciding how these bodies, symbols for her own, should look: not the viewer or mainstream culture, just the artist. The collages, made of bits of fabric and canvas, feel like amalgams. Self is taking all these materials and reshaping them into her own vision.
So the work has clear, strong ideals, but there’s a problem. Yes, Self has a passionate voice, but is a voice enough? Many of these works are pretty in themselves, but they can feel derivative, coming across as traditional, unadventurous. You want some visual fire to accompany the ideas, some threat in the air, but it doesn’t really come. The gif piece, ‘My Black Ass’, is the most provocative thing here – and it’s the best work as a result.
It’s not enough to be angry, or to believe in something, you have to be able to express that anger and those beliefs in a compelling way. She’s not doing that right now, but if Self can get her paintings and sculptures to start keeping step with her voice, she’ll be one of the most powerful contemporary artists around.