TRACEY MOFFATT

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Private collection, Sydney; purchased from the above

For another example of this image please refer to: Art Monthly Australia, Summer December 2002 - February 2003, No. 156 (front cover) and E.A. McGregor, Tracey Moffatt (exh. cat.), Sydney, 2003 (front cover)

This work is in excellent original condition. This work is not laid down. It is framed in an acid-free mount.
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Tracey Moffatt completed her studies in Visual Communications at the Queensland College of Art in 1982.  Following her breakthrough series, the critically-acclaimed Something More (1989), Moffat has become on of Australia's most important contemporary artists.  She has exhibition at all public galleries and her work has been included in a number of surveys including Feidlwork: Australian Art 1968 - 2002 (National Gallery of Victoria, 2002) and Australian Art and Society 1901 - 2001 (Nationa Gallery of Australia, 2002).  She such also been included in a number of Biennales such as Sydney (2000) and Adelaide (2004), as well as international exhibitions.  Living and working in Sydney and New York, her work is in high demand and sought by numerous international private and public collections.

Self Portrait was used extensively in the advertising for her 2003 solo exhibition of her work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.  It is a strong projection of a successful and determined contemporary female artist.  However, it is the surface, the playing with artifice and narrative that Moffatt's works of art engages.

Moffatt has stated, 'I like to create my own version of reality.'¹  Her images a constructed and her keen interest in film, pop culture are evident.  In this instance, the glamorous film star 'femme' with meticulous dress and accessories is every bit the white American dream.  However the dream-like quality of the photograph offsets the illusion.

This photograph is a rarity in the arti's oeuvre, Moffatt leaves behind the series format for a single, iconic image.  However, she stresses the 'universal quality' of her work, and invites as many readings as onlookers create.²

1.  Tracey Moffatt, 'An Interview with Tracey Moffat', Gerald Matt (ed.), Tracey Moffatt, City Gallery, Wellingtno, New Zeland, 2002, p. 33
2.  ibid, p. 35