Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Project I Artist Statement & Vimeo Link




We all experience influence from advertising through different outlets one way or another.  These ads are arguably essential to the market of exchanging goods and services.  However, with different sources constantly leaving a subtle hint of how to look and how to behave, it imposes pressure on the audience to conform.  Even in day-to-day socialization, we conform to a group of people based on a common interest in order to fit into a niche. I wanted to highlight the fact that this constant assimilation and conformity ebbs away at a person's personality and sense of self.
I took a more abstract perspective of this theory, and starred my piece with a ball of odd fuzz that served as an extension of myself.  We first come across it as it emerges from my purse, muddling through my personal items.  The ball of fuzz travels over to the mirror and serves a minute of reflection.  I wanted to leave it ambiguous as to how the fuzz felt about its image.  I wanted to prove the point that nobody really criticizes how they look until they compare themselves to others.  The fuzz then notices a laptop playing footage from various fashion shows and attempts to transform itself to become more like the models.  After several clips play, the ball of fuzz slowly mutilates itself trying to morph into a model and at the end rolls over, presumably dead or at the very least exhausted by its efforts.
I wanted to remain ambiguous as to whether or not the ball of fuzz looked decisively better or worse after its transformation.  Making an effort to improve your image is undoubtedly exhausting, but the act can pay off.  Change is inevitable in life, but it often comes for the better, paving new paths for growing and exploring new realms of yourself that you didn’t know you were capable of. In this piece, I simply wanted to comment on the fact a change definitely takes place and much of it comes from exposure to advertising and pop culture.

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