My work is clearly, heavily influenced by the vaporwave subculture as I admire the aesthetics associated with vaporwave. Vaporwave is a subculture of music and art that combines low and high art specifically influenced by the 80s and 90s. I specifically recreated the MacIntosh Plus album art, which could be considered one of the most well-known pieces of vaporwave. This specific album art includes a bust of Helios, in a seemingly never ending, solid pink and black tiled space. Along with some Japanese script that translates to the title of the track.Â
I recreated these aspects with my mini clay bust as a juxtaposition between the physical sculpture and the version of itself that only exists online. This can be a hyper realistic version of ourselves that only exists to be seen by others. Full of bright colours and possibly clashing images and patterns, it can act as a distraction from our flaws that we do not want to fix but would rather show âour bestâ selves but how can it be ours if itâs not true to us.
The clay figure took a couple hours to sculpt, as I havenât sculpted in a while I watched a video series on YouTube by a sculptor who used air dry clay in said series. It was very helpful but I did not create a hollow in the sculpture as he did, as my figure was significantly smaller to his. Meaning that it would be difficult to disassemble the structure from the hollow. The consequence of this is that the clay head was not fully supported by the small neck and shoulders, therefore, the head leans back further than I expected. I added wire for structure to act like a spine. The position the figureâs neck and face sit in is similar to the contortion often used when taking a selfie, neck extended upwards and pouty lips.
The wire was not completely successful but successful enough for the drying stage. I also had trouble with the eyes and continued to search for techniques on YouTube which was incredibly helpful. I did not add hair as I felt the ambiguous, androgynous figure could be projected onto by the audience, whether putting themselves in that place or others they know of.Â
In the Photoshopping stages I smoothed out the skin somewhat, akin to the use of the app FaceTune. FaceTune does not add too much filtering, when used correcting, and it deceives the viewer to believe that it is an accurate representation of that individualâs face.
The other image and text used in the digital image I created is also reflective of my theme. The image depicting a window with added noise and distortion, it represents a window as a possible escape from the digital. However, it is seemingly impossible when stuck in this seemingly never ending matrix of patterns and trends. The twenty-first century consumer so heavily relies on social media for constant news as well to communicate with friends. Therefore, the image of the window is present, similar to a mirage. It is a mirage as the image is not exactly clear. The text in my image reads, âborn to be a new selfâ and âold and new become oneâ. These are in reference to how we can reincarnate ourselves into the digital space and could end up believing our own lies as we become more and more addicted to the version of us that doesnât exist in the real world but can attract followers and likes. âBorn to be a new selfâ can be read in both ways, a cleansing of ones online persona or falling deeper into it. âold and new become oneâ relates to how our existence is now a culmination of how we are digitally perceived and perceived in real life.
This work explores the binary of the digital and ârealâ self, exploring ideas of self presentation and the hyper reality we create for ourselves.
discoholicmusic
janainaart
prguitarman
2087
