Self-Portrait as Rosa Lévy
1995-2006
Photography, variable dimensions.
Materials: ink, paper
Collection: Courtesy of the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna.
Jimmie Durham’s Self-portrait as Rosa Lévy makes direct references to Marcel Duchamp. Firstly, Rosa Levy (the inexistent character incarnated by Durham) is an anagram of Duchamp’s Rrose Sélavy. The second reference, the artist’s pose and mustache, brings us finally to Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q., completing the homage to the French artist and to what he might represent for Jimmie Durham’s artistic persona.