Still Life

Lucas Samaras, a versatile artist with roots in Pop Art and Surrealism, has turned the camera on himself since the late 1960s, with the Polaroid, or instant color photograph, his preferred medium. His self-titled AutoPolaroids elevate and reclaim a popular technology and express an obsession with the self—not unlike that unleashed by the advent of camera phones. Samaras enhances his photographs with filters, scratches, manipulation of chemicals, and, as in this example, ink dots to create what he calls “visual excitement.” His work often exposes the artifice of a studio setup, as in this photograph, where he allows viewers a glimpse of the various tools he utilizes to achieve his optical and material alterations.