Artist Statement:

      This piece is called ‘The Seduction’, deprived from the Gianni Versace’s life maxim of Medusa. This sculpture includes the memorial portrait of him and the snake of medusa coming out of portrait which has Versace’s symbolic texture rather than original snake skin. In terms of Medusa which he got inspired of, I thought Versace had made designs that wait for the wearer to challenge themselves and this phenomenon integrate with Gianni’s desire.

There is a famous quote he said in his lifetime, “That is the key of this collection, being yourself. Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live.” He wanted everyone to be confident to their conviction and I thought he successfully achieved as a beloved diligent designer whom fascinated people by his confidence of designs. Therefore, I chose to put on aggressive snake coming out of his portrait to raise others’ awareness that you can also make up yourself and express boldly like Gianni Versace.

This piece is made as a trick art of optical illusion by using photoshop and illustrator. Gianni was an active and friendly person that wanted to maintain the succeed as a designer. Therefore, trick are piece will commemorate him including his luxurious and friendly features. And also as real museum of trick arts his fans could take pictures in front of it.

ARTIST STATEMENT

When people talk about New York City, you can never forget the old historical buildings and tall skyscrapers. Our project, One New York, focuses on the architectural part of the Lower Manhattan. We planned out the shape of the route before hand, which was shape of “1”. Realizing the size and overwhelming feeling of the skyscrapers and aesthetic old antique buildings, we decided to make a psychogeographic map of our route mainly based with architectural designs. Since the skyscrapers are huge, we decided to make a big size sculpture to give the overwhelming feeling to the viewers. The buildings are drawn with pencils and with architectural drawing style. Since there were many pop up cards in Lower Manhattan, we made the drawing to be pop up. The “1” is made with cardboard and painted with simmer gray acrylic paint to show the dullness of the lower/ middle Manhattan and the bottom “_” part is made with plexi glass since there were many skyscrapers which are made with glass windows. Over the window, are fire exit staircase, a very iconic image of Soho houses. It is made out of metal wire to creat a realistic feeling of the stairs. 

Psycho-geographic map of Union Square

We had journey in Union Square and recorded sight, smell, touch, sound.

Then we shaped the route we went with sound waves.

Sound waves show the vibrancy of sound as we walk.

And we divided into several parts to show close look to each parts.

We attached pictures and sound of that moments and explained the experiences.

Peer to peer – Shifting Perspectives: Assemblage

            In order to adapt to an unfamiliar environment in a different country, individuals often struggle with the crisis of assimilation. In this sculpture, we elaborate on the concept of assimilation derived from displacement. The masks are covered by American, Chinese newspapers, respectively. Masks symbolize protection and disguise, whereas newspapers are one of the predominant media where ideology and information from a culture are spread. Therefore, this imitates how people construct different, or even fake, identities when they experience cultural rifts. These masks look almost identical to each other, which further emphasizes the idea of assimilation. The surfaces of the sphere and masks are uneven, which demonstrate a sense of incongruity when we are trying to adjust to the cultures. The sphere in the middle represents cultural rift, and the red forks that point out suggest a sense of danger and discomfort, just like how people feel when they are going through assimilation. The cups attached to the sphere are burnt, and it is just like how some unique cultures are damaged because of assimilation.