Self-Capture in the Anthropocene: The Expedition Paintings of Alexis Rockman
Self-Capture in the Anthropocene: The Expedition Paintings of Alexis Rockman

Summary/Abstract: In this article, I will be considering contemporary paintings by American artist Alexis Rockman under the proposition of the Anthropocene and provide a commentary upon ironies the concept encapsulates as played out in Rockman’s iconography of the human, nonhuman and posthuman. I focus on Rockman’s paintings from the global South that encompass visual metonyms of capture which snare the human as trapped in ‘his’ own Anthropocene. Rockman uses self-portraiture to represent the predicament created from expeditions that re-enact past artist-colonial explorations. I extend T.J. Demos’ ‘decolonization’ to a reading of Rockman’s work, baring serious dilemmas, and argue for both painting and the human figure to be included in the emerging Anthropocene art field, and for the importance of artistic engagement with the Anthropocene to support science colleagues pitted against political impediments.

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