April 2014

It’s All About Me

My name is Michael, and I am a narcissist. I have been one all my life, I suppose, but have only recently begun to recognize the extent of my condition, as well as its (potentially negative) effects on my life and the lives of those close to me.

While not all of my work features me, every piece that I make is an expression of my obsessive-compulsive nature (narcissism is by definition compulsive), my need to record key obsessions, from movies to sitcoms and, naturally, my self. I have been drawing self-portraits all my life. I do this because (a) as mentioned I am a narcissist and (b), unlike other models, I am always there when I want to draw me. My rational self does not actually believe that the whole world revolves around me, but my imaginative life is large, and I tend to get lost in it. My use of storyboard-like grids is therefore an attempt to contain and control the mishmash of styles and themes that interest me in the moment of making.

Michael Havneraas graduated with a BFA in painting from Kingston University, UK, in 1996. After periods in Norway and the Netherlands, he moved to the US in 2012. He currently lives and works in Washington, DC.

Visit the artist’s website at polypcyst.com