Mike Parr

Australia, b1945
Parr has worked with his own body since the start of his career in the 1970s. Although his work ranges across media, performance is at its core, and his films, photographs, prints, drawings, text works and sculptures can all be viewed as performative. His self-portraits too are a form of performance as the artist attempts to project his place in the world.

Bronze liars (minus 1 to minus 16) 1996

Part of his ongoing self-portrait project, these life-sized sculptures of Parr’s head were the artist’s first figurative sculptures. Parr modelled each head from the front, reaching around to model the back without seeing. Each sculpture bears the imprint of his hands, reflecting the sometimes violent process of making. The first ones seem tentative, others achieve a striking likeness, while the later ones are abstract, the result of destructive gestures.

View Bronze liars in the collection