For his third New York solo exhibition, Benjamin Cottam focuses his gaze firmly upon himself in new series of self-portrait paintings and drawings that invert the often self-aggrandizing genre of self-portraiture as he paints himself hidden from view, in paintings that initially appear to be monochromes, and draws himself reduced in size to that of a thumb print.

Typically, self-portraits play to established expectations: public confession, self-analysis, self-promotion, platforms on which an artist can play whatever role is chic at that time – harlequin, hero, rebel,aristocrat. But Cottam’s self-portraits do not perform any of these functions. On first glance they do not even appear to be portraits; rather, they present themselves as black monochromes. It is only upon closer inspection, and some work, that they reveal, just beneath their glossy surfaces, photo-realistic faces and figures. Yet, as quickly as the portrait is found, it is lost and a give-and-take dance commences in which Cottam’s image, glimpsed through the darkness, flickers at the edge of perception. These are self-portraits that dare the viewer to overlook them.

Celebrity, connoisseurship, the artist’s ego and people tipping on the edge of success and failure formed a major concern within Cottam’s previous drawing series – silverpoints of dead artists and goldpoints of the British rock star, tabloid hero, and drug addict Pete Doherty. Building on his previous work, Cottam depicts himself in what might be stupor, confusion, indecision, or distress that could almost give Pete a run for his money. None of the artist’s images are complete, fading into the much larger paper. But the heads are not simply incomplete; large and small sections of the face have been erased. The wispy, smoky remnants that surround the heads in the previous series take on a new importance as reminders of what was edited]out of the drawing. Even when the image is placed in plain sight, Cottam pointedly holds something back from the viewer.

Through nearly impenetrable black glazes and minuscule size, Cottam does all he can to deny the expectations inherent within the self-portrait. He puts what would be private on public exhibition while still keeping it private, negating the public’s expectation of access to the artist through his work.There is no confession, there is no insight; whatever role he is playing is as incompletely apparent as the images themselves. And by negating the self-portrait as a platform of self-promotion, Cottam questions his own importance as well as the privileged position of the artist as a star.

Cottam will also show a small group of false monochrome paintings and miniature goldpoint drawings of embattled celebrity Lindsay Lohan.

Benjamin Cottam’s work has been widely exhibited and collected. In the spring of 2006 his work was featured in the Berlin Biennial and in the fall of 2006 in a solo presentation in London. In the winter of 2006 he was included in the group exhibition “six feet under” at the Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland.