Tag: foundation 4d

INTER- : HUMAN CANVAS

concept

I am curious to find out how people would react when presented with a human face as a canvas and having beauty tools and make-up as their art materials instead of the usual paint and paint brushes.

In addition, I would also like to see how the audience interact with the canvas and tools: will they erase anything on my face or continue on from the previous person’s work.

inspirations

Yayoi Kusama // Obliteration Room (2017)

Allowing audience interaction, Kusama’s work allowed for the audience to stick colourful stickers all over the furniture and walls of the white room. The white room acts as a canvas in which the audience are able to experience being an “artist” by placing their own “mark” onto the canvas.

As such, the free interaction from the audience was what I took from and implemented in my own work.

Marina Abramović // Rhythm 0 (1974)

Also allowing audience interaction, Abramović stands still while the audience was invited to do to her whatever they wished. They had the option of using one of 72 objects she had placed on a table. These included a rose, feather, perfume, honey, bread, grapes, wine, scissors, a scalpel, nails, a metal bar, and a gun loaded with one bullet.

Similar to Abramović, I will be laying out an abundance of materials for the audience to pick and play with on a table and will not allow myself to talk and let them experience the canvas freely.

pre-submission testing

In this experiment before the actual submission, I have allowed for multiple people to come at me and do my make-up as they please. I realised that with more people working on my face, they tend to ask each other if they are doing the right thing, which is something I didn’t want them to care about. However, I did get some interesting response on the canvas as people are more willing to be creative when there are many people doing at a go.

actual submission – the human canvas

Instructions:

Having the audience coming and working on the human canvas one at a time, it felt much more personal than previously where everyone ambushed at the same time. It also allowed me to interact and react to the audience more intimately in which they can take their time to scout the different tools before testing it out on me. In addition, it was also interesting to see how many of the audience chose to add on and not erase the previous person’s work as if they are afraid to ruin it.

 

SELF PORTRAIT: SUBMISSION PIECE

Out of the five images that I have shortlisted to be considered for the final submission, I have further eliminated two images to create this:

Title: Obsessed

Artist Statement:

I have always felt the need of having to hide parts of myself to the rest of the world. To show only bits and pieces of what and who I truly am. Have I been honest to myself? Yes. Have I been honest to people? Maybe not. I am constantly in doubt and am always ever so cautious with my surroundings that faking has become a relatively huge part of my personality. To be specific, faking my confidence. It led me to an obsession with high end make-up products, branded goods and shiny jewellery as these material possessions slowly integrated into becoming a part of myself. Over time, I am consumed with with vanity and looking “perfect” and rigid and continued to stray away from being honest with who I truly am.

My Literal Message:

The constant use of the red colour is to immediately catch the eye of the viewers as it is a bold colour and it looks absolutely flattering on myself. The red head piece is used to compliment the outfit and balance out the whole red aesthetic of the photograph.

The shiny necklace, earrings and rings that I cladded myself with is to further compliment the outfit that I am wearing as the shiny pieces really brings forth the vibrancy in the red colour.

My Symbolic Message:

The use of red that I have constantly placed an emphasis throughout the series would be to showcase confidence and how I feel beautiful and empowered. Red is also a colour used by women to appear attractive and somewhat alluring, drawing a sense of sex appeal.

The shiny necklace, earrings and rings is to symbolise how I need all these material possessions to appear confident and to somewhat brag that I am of class and have a high spending power. This relates to how women on social media perceive each other’s worth based on the amount of expensive goods they own.

Image 1

This image focuses on the excessive amount of jewellery and also the neckline. I chose this image so as to portray how I am vulnerable to these material possessions and it has become part of me, part of the things that make up the idea of perfection. The image is particularly cropped from the lips to the collarbone area as I personally feel that this is one of the sexier region of the female body and the gesture of my fingers grazing my face as such is to show how I am really obsessed with vanity.

Image 2

This image is to slowly introduce my personality through my eyes, yet not having to show my whole face just yet. I chose this shot as it exudes the “mysterious” feel that would somehow make viewers curious and would want to click on my profile to see more of my face.

Image 3

I selected this image as to me, this is the ideal of how I would portray myself to my followers on social media. This was how I wanted them to perceive me as. In this image, I have over-exaggerated some elements such as the lipstick and excessive rings worn. The over-lining of the lipstick has been in trend with so many social media beauty influencers as it now an “ideal” to have really plump and luscious lips. The expression that I made was a typical “I’m confident” pose with my chin tilted lightly up and my head tilted to the left slightly, sort of subtly looking down to the viewers.

In conclusion, I really do believe that expensive material goods and portraying oneself in a proper and most idealistic way through make-up or dressing up is a form of self-expression on how they want to be be accepted and well-liked by the society or the “online-society” they are in. As I grew up and with a social circle of friends who are constantly obsessed about posted the most picture-perfect posts at the right timing with the right caption, I somehow too have developed that trait unwillingly became obsessed with that lifestyle.

Here are some of my own examples to show how when posting at different timings or when I post something that is not conventionally what my followers like, which are picture-perfect posts of myself, I tend to receive different amount of likes and comments.

Posted at 8pm on a Wednesday, where most of my followers are having dinner or at home. I consider this to be the “prime time” on Instagram where posts posted at this timing will get the most exposure. Image is a selection from 30 images that were shot, filtered and colour corrected to make the colours “pop”.

Posted at 6pm on a Sunday, I consider this to be the “prime time” for weekends where most of my followers will be at home resting and getting ready for a Monday work day / school day. Again, this image was a selection from over 20 images, filtered and colour corrected to make the aesthetic fitting of that a “Sunday Brunch”.

Posted on a Friday evening at 5pm, this was honestly one of my favourite shots on my Instagram page yet it has the least likes because my face is clearly not seen and it is apparent that my followers don’t care for my silhouette or the beautiful neon sign behind me. This was also filtered and colour corrected.

Crit Sesh Comments

  1. There is a constant colour tone so it helps that it is printed into one board.
  2. Gives off a collage feel very old school or look book feel.
  3. Like how the bottom photo zooms in to the detail.
  4. There is a sense of self-love in the images.
  5. Kardashian-Jenner feel.
  6. All three images makes one image and it resembles magazines that we are familiar with.
  7. Piece comes in context with the artist statement and how I frame myself in the social media perfection.
  8. Like the fact how I use something aesthetically pleasing to show outside with the inside to convey something deeper.