Author: Kristina

A piece exploring the grotesque and pushing the limits of horrific imagery. This piece is uncanny as it has elements of torture and realism. I used metaphors and puns to visualize this piece and dramatized it to give that horror/theatrical vibe. The piece focus on trying to express yourself, verbally. The feeling when you say something and don’t mean it or instantly regret it…which is usually the case in emotional situations such as love. I also played with duality, two tongues, two faces. This theme represents the uncertainty of identity and naivete of the individual.

The critique went well for me and I enjoyed hearing what the students had to say and thought. I especially loved the reactions! Since my work deals a lot with shock factor I always look forward to seeing initial facial reactions from the viewers.

No One Will Love You If You’re Unattractive

For this project I was really inspired by Foucault’s idea of a Heterotopia, which is described as a place consisting of multiple layers of meaning in relationship to other places. Foucault goes into further detail by giving a mirror analogy which was the basis for my project. The idea of a mirror was used as a metaphor for a utopia, reality and unreality. Foucault states that the image in the mirror is the unreality because it is a contradiction to reality, basically the image is either what you want to see or is far stretched. I wanted to play with this dual meaning concept by creating a mask, it was also a great chance for me to include my field which is makeup art. The mask I made is two-faced, where one side is ‘pretty’ and the other not so pretty. I felt that this two-faced concept was best for visually depicting the duality and contradictions Foucault was discussing in his writing.

There were 3 phases to making the mask: the sculpting phase, casting/molding, and then painting. The mask was made of RD 407 (foam latex) and was painted using a combination of water activated paints and cream paints. The mask also features a couple of dental cast resin teeth as well as safety pins for detail. I also used clear nail polish to give that shiny, wet effect seen on the peeled back eye and lips.

This is a short video of how I made the headpiece (song: Marilyn Manson – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Alt. Version) 1995)

Here are the unaltered photos:

5 4 1

Below is the mask fresh off the face cast

Below is the before and after of my headpiece

Concept Pitch: I focused on the ads in the newspaper of my birthday. As I was skimming through the stories, almost every page had some sort of ad and a majority was consumerism – trying to sell a product. For example, some ads were primarily text based in which they used compelling words or phrases such as ‘you need this’ or pose a question like ‘do you have___ in your life? then ___’. My research will further that topic of consumerism and the effects it has on people psychologically. Advertisement is a form of propaganda in which businesses/brands are altering the mindset of the consumer to get money.

This connects to the research I’ve done where Olson and Dover talk about deceptive advertising, aka false advertising. This type of advertising is done to promote/sell a product. They talk about the cognitive effects of this false advertising and what it does when exposed to the consumer. Most ads have a ‘brainwashing’ element where it sticks in your memory and makes you believe a certain thing. Olson and Dover discuss how those cognitive elements of the brand and product constitute the belief of the consumer. My piece will show that effect but of course it will be dramatized since this is a visual depiction of what goes on in your mind.

Furthermore, in my work I want to play around with the concepts of scopohilia, objectification and consumer psychology since they’re all relevant themes in the ads I’ve looked at. These types of ads don’t really have any effect on me, I’m impartial to them but I want to do this because I know that it is an issue for a lot of the younger consumers on account of them being more impressionable.

Another source that pretty much goes hand in hand with my work is Kimberly Clark’s YouTube video called Listen Up: Consumerism. In the video Kimberly talks about the relationship between advertising/marketing and consumers (us). Advertising is the way brands/companies communicate to the consumers. Brands are always trying to promote their products and a popular way to do that is through social media. For example, brands have reached out to me sending me their products to review for free or sometimes get paid (sponsorships). However, now it is left up to the person to have morality to disclose that the product was sent for free or being paid for it. Kimberly also talks about how consumerism as a value has replaced other values such as logic & morality; this lack of logic & morals is the price of consumerism.

My work is to give a visual depiction of the psychological effects advertising can have on a consumer, specifically a female consumer. I used themes to depict objectification and brand ownership of their consumers to show this. At the end of the day, the brand doesn’t really care, to an extent, if their products work…it’s all about the money.

A way out of this is to understand how advertising works and try to take advantage, where the consumer benefits as well. What I illustrated in my project is a more parasitic relationship between brand and consumer where the consumer is subordinate to the brand/company. Reaching out to brands, like I do, can give a more mutually beneficial relationship where brands pay me to review their products which let my audience buy that product. It’s a win win.

Questions:

What does the ad ‘world’ project on us?

How can I visually depict a psychological effect in my work?

Materials:

Papier Mache (for mask): newsprint paper & mixture (glue & water)

Inspirations:

Virgin Mary sculpture

Banksy’s consumerism graffiti art series: https://www.google.com/search?q=banksy+consumerism&espv=2&biw=786&bih=515&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwij9rLEj8zQAhWH5IMKHcV7B68Q_AUIBigB

Adrian Piper’s Vanilla Nightmares #f

 

Below: My ‘WEIRDO’ project

(mask made of liquid latex & single-ply tissue paper)

Below: Banksy’s Cinderella Crash Scene at Dismaland

Even though the media is different, Banksy’s is installation art and mine is makeup art, we do share similar concepts in our work. My work can be on the creepy side but I always like to have a sense of humor with it. Banksy also has that satirical, mocking aspect in his work as well, whether it’s his installation work or graffiti art. I have always admired how Banksy can poke fun in his art or comment on controversial topics in society all the while remaining anonymous. I have a slight anonymity in my work where I like to conceal my identity, whether it be with masks or makeup. I do this because it’s not about me, it’s about my art. As far as mockery, in the ‘weirdo’ piece (above) I was mocking negative social media comments. Being a youtuber, I have received many comments on my work and, some of the time, the comments can be negative. One of the ‘popular’ negative comments is calling me or my work ‘weird’. So, in response to this I literally showed the ‘haters’ what ‘weird’ is and wore that mask out in public. This was my way of accepting the comment and showing that I don’t care what is said or thought of my work, if i love what I’m doing I’m going to continue to do it.