The work on view in The Self, Absorbed constantly distances you from its subjects, even as it attempts, in some cases, to present exact inventories of them. The whole idea of an individual existence starts to look suspect. The depiction is of course, very exact, and the pose utterly neutral, even uncommunicative. You know everything and nothing about this person.
Inventories are a common theme.
On reduces life beneath even statistics, to numbers that move either up or down, and thus can be counted as a child would count. Titles of some of the ten counting machines include Breaths I Have Left , and Breaths I Have Taken . Other artists here aim straight for types, looking possibly to draw the individual out of the generic. The individual disappears in the vast population surrounding him. Viewers are invited to choose an icon which represents themselves, and then write comments about their choice.