I Was My Only Option

I was at an artist's residency (Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs) in January, and started a whole new thing. I started doing self-portraits, something swore I'd never do. I hold the whole genre in contempt. All those imitation Cindy Shermans. Irritating, self-absorbed artists like Laurel Nakadate and on and on. Well, it's official. Now I like them all, for the most important, compelling of all reasons: I'm doing self-portraits myself! It's fun! Now I can practice sucking my stomach in! Holding my shoulders back! Oh, the vanity! There was nobody else to use as a model at the residency, which strictly enforces "quiet hours," during which you can't approach another resident to beg them to come pose for a minute. Besides, they are all pretty busy with there own work. I was my only option!

Note: I haven't really been blogging much for the past year or so. My plan is write a lot more in the coming months. In that spirit, I redesigned and renamed the blog more in accord with my new vanity. Goodbye, Brand New Unfinished Projects. Hello, Pelle Cass, the blog. (I thought about naming it Mr. Pelacus, which I have been called occasionally when people read my first and last name as one. I've also been called Pearl Katz, Pelé, and many other minor variants. My favorite is, although it wasn't at the time during middle school, "Dictionary." In any case, I was more often called "Poindexter" for my manly glasses and bold, decisive mien.)