Roland Barthes

In his work, The Death Of The Author, Roland Barthes gives the history of the Author as an entity. He goes on to explain the rise of viewing a writing in the context of the Author. That by knowing the Author, we have a better understanding of the writing. He writes about words themselves being only explainable with other words and that all words are cryptic in nature. His final thought is that the true identity of a Writing lies in the reader and not the Author.

I think this reading is fantastic. Even though it is speaking about writing, it alludes to a very real concept in my work. So much critique in artwork is done through the filter of the artist. By completely laying myself bare in the work I paradoxically take myself out of it. In effect, by placing so much of myself in the work, I remove myself from it. This forces the viewer to make the choice of either rejecting the work or placing themselves into it.