In A Shenere Velt Gallery

Carl Gombert: The Real Me
October 11 - November 14

Who loves his children? Who lacks faith? Who pledges allegiance? Who is sick? What visual clues do we pick up when we look at other people—or art—and use to make judgments, even unconscious ones?

The Real Me consists of more than two dozen sensitively rendered self-portraits, depicting essentially the same individual, except for variations in costume, hair style, and eye, skin or hair color. The intended effect of the exhibit is to present a room of people who at first glance are extremely different, representing a wide range of races, ethnicities, lifestyles, occupations, etc., but who are nevertheless easily perceived as the same person. Gombert asks us as viewers to consider whether, as individual people, we are at heart more different or more alike. We are challenged to confront both personal and public attitudes about identity and class.

Gombert asks, “Who is the real me? Is there an immutable core, an essential identity that remains fixed over time, or is personality like a closet full of clothes, from which we can pick characteristics or behaviors as situations demand? Is my identity a function of the choices I make and the signals I send, or is it determined by others and their interpretation of those shifting signals?”

Wherever selected images from The Real Me have been shown, the  exhibit promotes profound discussion about stereotyping and profiling, human nature and racism, and viewers’ own biases, fears and anxieties.