Jason Lazarus uses photography to create what he calls “conceptual self-portraits” that explore contemporary art practice and what it means to be an artist. His ongoing series Self-Portraits as an Artist examines his perspective as someone arriving to the contemporary art world after a career in business, as well as other aspects of his life, including the fact he has arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. The public and even artists gravitate toward differing and often caricatured views of the role of the artist in society—from seducer, savant, and rebel to art historian, pundit, cultural critic, and prophet. Lazarus thus intends his witty images to confirm and disrupt our expectations of artists.

Jason Lazarus is featured in the MCA’s 12 x 12: New Artists/New Work series during April 2006, coinciding with the city-wide focus on disabilities and the arts.

The artist leads a tour of this exhibition on Tuesday, April 11, at 6:30 pm.