A raw and unflinching self-portrait rendered in colored pencil and ink, this work exemplifies Kippenberger's signature blend of brutal honesty and dark humor in depicting the self. The artist's characteristic irreverence comes through in the loose, expressive mark-making, which distorts and exaggerates the figure with equal parts vulnerability and bravado. Ego lays bare the contradictions of Kippenberger's persona — at once grandiose and self-deprecating — collapsing the distance between artist and subject.