Nick Sethi “For Your Eyes Only” opening at Ed. Varie, New York

Orbiting the body of work presented in a self published zine, For Your Eyes Only Vol 1. Nick Sethi continues to explore and expand the social investigation of intimate self-portraits, or as the Oxford dictionaries made official in 2013, the Selfie. From a massive and ongoing collection of found photographs from the internet, Sethi dives deep into the phenomenon of the selfie as a form of self expression operating within the confines of public approval. The selfie has presented itself as a cyclical form of self-expression both projecting and reflecting simultaneously, leaving us to wonder which comes first. The availability and anonymity of these images transforms this newborn narcissistic medium into a free radical of sorts, an unpaired extension of ourselves. The images keep the viewer at arms length both metaphorically and physically, while exposing the process through a meticulously executed partial identity. Photo Elise Gallant