This self-portrait is a tribute to one of the best-known outsiders of modern art: Henri Rousseau, the key representative of ‘naïve art’, whom Byrne greatly admired. Created in the wake of a trip to America, it also reflects Byrne’s fascination with the distinct Californian light and the ‘flower power’ of the time. The numerous, strikingly protean self-portraits which the artist produced over the course of his career suggest a variable and malleable identity. Equally known for his writing, Byrne presents himself in his art in an array of guises and costumes, attitudes and masks, moods and circumstances. The undoubted humorous streak to his poses is also tinged with a tragic element. (http://www.i-am-here.eu/en/gallery.html)