Author Description

Portrait of a Man is the product of a fifteen year long project by Austrian artist, Michael Mauracher. Fascinated by the nature of portraiture, Mauracher has produced a series of over 30 intriguing life studies, all of one anonymous individual. Denied any contextual information, or clues to this man's identity, the viewer is compelled to make assumptions about his personality or social status based on what little information is offered. Deciphering the dress sense and demeanour of the Man in one picture we can view him as an unfortunate down-and-out; in others we see a confident professional person, full of purpose and dignity. Perplexingly, we are unable to construct any coherent identity for the Man which leads us to reflect on the vagaries of photography and its apparent capacity to provide documentary proof. In the final analysis, it may be that it is not so much the subject who is under scrutiny, but our own, sometimes spurious, judgements of others.