Jeff Hladun
The Father of Selfies
Recently in downtown Toronto I bumped into Michael Snow, considered to be Canada’s best known Avant-garde artist of the late 20th century.
Introductions were made, and we discussed a work of his I’d seen in the mid-eighties at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It was “Venetian Blind” done in 1970 using a Polaroid. I asked Snow if he thought the series could be considered the first example of the selfie, with its use of the camera hand-held at arms-length. He was taken with the question and surprised that he had never thought about the work that way. He had come up with the concept on his own; he hadn’t seen anything similar prior. He concluded it could be considered the first of its kind.
To call Michael Snow the creator or inventor of the selfie portrait may be unfair and inaccurate. After all, somewhere in a shoebox could be a Polaroid taken before 1970 of someone aiming the camera back at themselves with arms outstretched. Nevertheless, forty-five years ago Snow was the first to photograph, edit and publish the idea. That makes him first out of the gate; the originator and conceptualizer of the genre.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documented Michael Snow’s time in Venice, where he was the Canadian entrant for the 1970 Venice Biennale, http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/michael-snow-at-the-venice-biennale while simultaneously working on the “Venetian Blind” series. Footage in the latter half of the documentary shows Snow at work on the concept; revealing a glimpse into his thinking behind it. Making what may be the very first selfies, ever.
Toward the end of the conversation I asked Mr. Snow if he’d take a selfie with my camera. He did so gladly; it’s something the way great artists make themselves available to situations. This image can be looked upon as a selfie of the Father of the Selfie, moments after realizing he was the father of the selfie. Still processing the idea that forty-five years ago he had inadvertently pioneered the most popular photographic genre of all time.
(“Venetian Blind” is currently in the collection of the Canada Council Art Bank.)
Jeff Hladun
Caledon, Ontario
Bio
Jeff Hladun, born in 1957, is a passionate, amateur street photographer wisely taught to constantly set challenges for his work. He has found labouring on today’s problem in a state of constant failure allows for the successful completion of yesterday’s quandary, and use this problem-solving technique as a means to climb the ladder of creative self-expression while remaining permanently in a productive state of rolling aesthetic dissatisfaction.
Hladun lives in Caledon, Ontario.
:)….
exactly…..
some times a single picture is enough….
and i’m wondering if this was taken at Dundas Square 2 weeks ago at the performance of John Oswald 1,000 strings project?….I was there too (sans camera) and saw you with quite the rig…;)…
but i preferred to dance with two violinists…as i held my own instrument….
yea, Michael Snow! :)
make that 3 weeks ago ;)
Nice little story. Kind of has layers that circle back upon themselves, like an Escher. I like it.
Hey David, you should send Jeff a little money for this so he can quit referring to himself as an “amateur” street photographer.
Looking at the originals, which look far more like Mamiya_7 than Polaroid shots, I see selfies were as dull then as they are now, even when covered in the emperors new art concept cape. pointless as photographs and pretentious as art.
So, all this selfiesish stuff is Mr Snow’s fault? Interesting.
Thanks for your comments, everyone.
Bob:
That was indeed taken at the Yonge-Dundas Square after the performance of Spectre. One shot IS indeed enough, if taken by Mr. Snow!
Michael:
The CBC documentary is crucial to this essay. Happy you viewed it, and hope everyone else does as well. Whether or not fans of photography like the selfie genre, Snow`s statements in the last third of the video reminded me of Clement Greenberg`s essay “Àvant-garde and Kitsch` when comparing the work he conceptualized then, as opposed to the mass-produced selfies we see, now.
David needn’t worry about me lightening his wallet. You’ll notice no evidence of any images by me in this essay; I`m still searching for that high-hanging fruit as per David`s instructions. (Think I`ve found the trees, though.)
John:
When I first saw this piece in the eighties, I also considered it pretentious and self-indulgent; that the only reason it was in the Art Gallery of Ontario was due to Snow`s top-tiered status in the art community. Yet, Snow is the perfect medium-of-specificity Modernist, the way he explored the unique properties of painting, sculpture, music, photography and film. If you view the CBC documentary, you`ll see this desire throughout. With `Venetian Blind` it wasn`t so much that he wanted to get in front of the camera; he wanted to get out from behind it and hand over more control to it.
It`s like the music Bob and I experienced that night. Creative expression existed in the hands of the composer, the conductor, the players – even the instruments. For me, Snow is the guy who wants to build the violin or take it apart, as a means to understand the influencing properties of instrument to medium of music.
Akaky:
Funny how Snow had a modest desire to get out of the way of the camera by getting in front of it, when today similar image-making is done for more immodest and narcissistic reasons. Turns the concept upside-down.
Kind regards,
Jeff
Good job Jeff! Dos thumbs up!!!
Jeff. Nice words, but I have no desire at all to have to watch a documentary in order to understand the “ART” that these pictures represent. Anyone who finds that stimulating is very welcome to that experience. Vive la difference!
Nicely written article Jeff! I am especially impressed with your bio and would gladly contribute money or beer if you would help me with mine!! Cheers.
Fair enough, John. I like the way Snow explores the properties of the photographic medium by the way he removes himself as much as possible from the process in “Venetian Blind”. It divides somewhat the work of the camera from that of the photographer. Coincidentally and independently, this was something Garry Winogrand was working on at roughly the same time, and from a different point-of-view. He was interested in figuring out what the camera “saw” as distinct from what the photographer wanted it to see.
These kinds of inquiries and explorations serve as a gateway to understanding the uniqueness of the photographic medium. In particular it answers how the photograph is different from the painting; it directs those wanting to, a map to making a non-painterly image. Is it possible to make a photograph in nature that doesn’t share any of the compositional techniques and properties of the painting? It’s a big challenge, not of much interest to most photographers or the photographic viewing public.
It should also be noted that Snow is as much interested in combining different mediums as he is in separating them.
Vive la difference, for sure!
Panos: Thanks for that; Big Apple optimism, already? ;)
Nancy: Always beer, Nan; always beer!
Regards,
Jeff
Great to see this here Jeff.
Like’em or hate’em, this is an amazing comment on selfie culture.
One of the things that struck me most viewing the documentary after seeing this picture is seeing the same man, doing the same thing, 40 years on. The slim, young, handsome, confident looking man has become an old man. He’s looking a bit dazed, slightly comical, not at all the same person. As I confront my own advancing age, it is somehow both comforting and disturbing.
The second thought that sprung to mind is the video clip doing the rounds on the internet right now of the dozen or so sorority girl types at a baseball game absorbed in taking selfies at a baseball game. I find myself picturing selfies of the same girls 40 years on.
http://www.tmz.com/2015/10/01/mlb-announcer-sorority-girl-shaming-over-selfies-at-baseball-game/
Thanks Jeff
Thanks, Gordon. If this is any comfort, perusal of tonight’s Nuit Blanche artwalk in Toronto indicates a show by Snow:
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/project.html?project_id=1532
As he’s in his mid-eighties, he’s following the footsteps of many artists who were productive till the very end. Doubtful the same can be said for those girls at the game! ;)