Our self-portrait series continues with a frank confessional made by a thought-provoking visual artist in his mid-twenties.

Though Jordan Wolfson is now known for creating intertextual artworks that combine an interest in industrial technology and online media, this early video he made while backpacking across Europe shows a different side of him. Filmed in the style of a tourist vlog, The Crisis sees Wolfson question his place in the art world while ambling about a medieval cathedral.

Over the course of the four-minute video, Wolfson’s off-hand remarks about an incredible Robert Smithson sculpture he saw at Dia: Beacon quickly evolve into a soliloquy on art and whether he’ll ever be able to create something as powerful as the work of those artists he loves. The irony that he is airing out his frustrations about art and legacy while wandering about a time-hallowed cathedral is not lost on Wolfson, who amps up his performance of disquiet as the video goes on. Yet the setting also helps validate his crisis of faith, imbuing it with the quality of a religious confession that’s being delivered by an anxious and precocious young artist.

“I think the work has a tension between authenticity and satire. It’s quite self-conscious and narcissistic and satirical and even cynical.” JORDAN WOLFSON

According to Wolfson, he made The Crisis at a point in his life when “breaking into the art world and the desire to be recognized” were at the forefront of his mind. This lends the piece its unvarnished dimension, representing one of the earliest works in Wolfson’s career where he dealt with the notion of self-image and identity in a sly and candid fashion. It’s something Wolfson continues to do, but from a renewed and less anxious state of mind.

Jordan Wolfson was born in New York in 1980. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and received the Frieze Foundation’s Cartier Award in 2003. His work has since been exhibited at David Zwirner in New York, Tate Modern, the LUMA Foundation, and the Whitney Biennial, in addition to other prestigious galleries, institutions, and showcases. In 2016, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam hosted a solo exhibition of his work.

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer. Special thanks to Jordan Wolfson and David Zwirner. © Jordan Wolfson / Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Gagosian