#project06

[videogamerzero1]

The fact Maximilian Dood is essentially giving MvCI the Project 06/Duke Nukem Forever 2001 Restoration Project is crazy and why I hope this happens to Namco X Capcom/Project X Zone as it deserves to be an amazing SRPG and not a very bad game IMHO

[v-zabeo]

Vaporwave

Because my experiments were not looking very exciting, during a 1:1 session, one of my tutors told me to look into vaporwave, which is a musical genre, a visual art style and also a meme that emerged around 2010 on online communities. 

Its aesthetic was very pleasing to me, personally, and I thought it could help me improve the ideas I was working on by using its color palette, graphics from ’80s to early ‘00s, grids, lines and shapes, and also because of its ironic character, which contains an ambiguous or satirical take on consumerism, capitalism and pop culture. This project is all about creating a fine tension between opposites, giving it a comical context, and the vaporwave aesthetic suits this right on.

Using this aesthetic, this is what my work started to look like:

[v-zabeo]

Playing around and experimenting with Photoshop was fun and I was kind of enjoying the outcomes, but they all felt very unfinished. Something was missing, it looked flat, a bit boring. 

[v-zabeo]

TOILETPAPER MAGAZINE N.18

"Toiletpaper is an artists’ magazine created and produced by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, born out of a passion or obsession they both cultivate: images. Number 18 is powered by TIM. The magazine contains no text; each picture springs from an idea, often simple, and through a complex orchestration of people it becomes the materialization of the artists’ mental outbursts. Since the first issue, in June 2010, ‘Toiletpaper’ has created a world that displays ambiguous narratives and a troubling imagination. It combines the vernacular of commercial photography with twisted narrative tableaux and surrealistic imagery. The result is a publication that is itself a work of art, which, through its accessible form as a magazine, and through its wide distribution, challenges the limits of the contemporary art economy."

[v-zabeo]

Researching...

When doing some research on this project, I came across a bunch of different photograph and editing styles, and when I gathered the references I liked most, there was an aesthetic very much predominant on the pictures. I noticed I like when people are portrayed, but they are usually odd looking, be their faces, the angle of the photograph, the choice of colors, the posing or the scenery. 

[v-zabeo]

Project 06: Luxury Goods

The definition of luxury has been changing for ages. According to its etymology, the word comes from luxus, meaning excess in latin. In English, it appeared circa 1300 and had a pejorative taint with exclusively sensual meaning, but it has drifted away over time, leading to the definition that is used today of something nonessential or indulgent, as in a welcome change that is not always possible or available.

I grew up looking at luxurious brands as something classic, conservative, clean. For years, expensive shoes, bags and jewelry were the only luxurious objects I could think of, and only those designed by the biggest maisons around the world. Now I see that luxury can be spotted in any aspect of life depending on how you present it. 

Virgil Abloh, former artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear, and creator of the brand Off-White, was responsible for breaking down the barrier between streetwear and luxury. Quoting Darnell Libby Jame, fashion historian and curator, “If you look at the past 40 years of fashion, you see this transition, and when Virgil comes into the industry, he really takes the ball running, cementing what many of us from the black community always saw as luxurious into [elite] mainstream luxury and Paris fashion. Essentially, his brand, among others before him like WilliWear or even Sean John, proved that luxury can be a state of mind rather than solely focused on price point and brand exclusivity.”

Bringing this idea of luxury to this project, we spent the day in the photo studio working in groups to produce a photoshoot, and later choose 4 pictures taken that day to express this luxurious approach. I worked with Ana again and she was my model! It was super fun and we worked really well together. I directed the photoshoot and she modeled brilliantly, being very expressive and giving her own insights as well. I was very pleased with the result, and decided to work by myself to edit the photographs.

[the-explorer]

[the-explorer]

project06 - justeclothes.com

Overall, I am really proud of the work that I did for the final project. I faced several challenges and there were times where I doubted my ability to get everything done. I started off with the idea of making doll clothes. With my change of focus to Western men's formal wear, I purchased a male doll. However, my experiences making dresses for my female dolls could not have even begin to prepare me for the horrors that I would experience. This really pushed me to get more familiar with photoshop. In the end, I think the heavily edited, collage quality of my images helped support my work. And I am really happy that I was able to communicate my idea through the piece.