Keith Cottingham
«Fictitious Portraits»

The three digital photographies from the series of «Fictitious Portraits» show young men, boys actually, either a single, double or triple portrait in front of a dark background. Their waists are naked, legs and hands are beyond the frame resp. are covered by the set-up of the bodys in the picture as in the pyramid-like shape of the «Untitled (Triple)».

(Source: Barbara Filser, ZKM online)

«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 ‹Self.› The soul is not seen as a solidified being, but is exposed as multiple personalities, each expressing a different view of the ‹Self.›

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

Keith Cottingham

(Source: http://www.genomicart.org/cottingham.htm)