Steven Campbell

Self Portrait: Scratched out, it's all in the wrist

previous next

About this artwork

This theatrical and complex self-portrait is one of the last paintings Campbell completed before his untimely death in 2007. It is filled with a rich narrative, incorporating figures and symbols, mixed together in a dream-like composition. The artist presents himself as a Christ figure, displaying his palms which show stigmata. To the left a cross is marked out with police tape, which, as testament to Campbell’s dark humour, reads “Police. Death In Progress’. He takes this further with a skull visible at the base of the cross, a reference to Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified. Crammed with death and religious symbolism, it is hard not to consider this work as a portrait of a man in some way aware that death was on his doorstep.

Updated before 2020

see media
  • artist:
    Steven Campbell (1953 - 2007) Scottish
  • title:
    Self Portrait: Scratched out, it's all in the wrist
  • date created:
    About 2006
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    183.50 x 133.50 cm; Framed: 183.50 x 133.20 x 5.70 cm / 12.00 kg
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased in 2011 from Carol Campbell for £20,000, with funding from NGS Patrons
  • accession number:
    PG 3691
  • gallery:
  • depicted:
  • subject:
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? Tell us what you think.

Steven Campbell

Steven Campbell