Distortions.
They are a part of our everyday life. Billions of people try to get
their message out every day and find that it is inevitably distorted,
if not by the means used to get the message out, then by those who hear
the message. The more people a message reaches, the more it becomes
altered and fabricated as the hordes give their take on the
information. This is made worse when a message is sent to the people
through mass media. Through this process, the message is entered into a
vast machine of indifference that tries to control and shape what
people hear in the name of profit. My show deals with these media
corruptions by taking the process one step further. I distort the
distortion in order to illuminate this inherent aspect in one
particular part of mass media: film. My exhibition, “Distortion,” shows
characters who try to change society, break down barriers, and get
their message out to the people in their most corrupted yet beautiful
state. I rip out the very message, the very idea of a film itself and
present the audience with a pure image from which to derive further
meaning.
To this end, I chose movies that deal with an individual's going against society in the hope of making the world bend to his or her own idea of perfection. I then chose important scenes from these movies and created distorted images of them using a computer. Many different images were produced, but I selected only those that placed the characters into a new context/landscape, thus creating a new scene with the potential for a new meaning. The characters also had to be completely unrecognizable, further pushing them away from their original context. I then painted these selected images onto 2x4 pieces of wood with latex paint.
The reason why I don’t simply print out the images is because this process seems too impersonal. In producing my work it is again distorted through me, making me a part of the process. Therefore, I completely and utterly remove the image from its initial source material. Not only are the images so perverted that it's nearly impossible to make out the characters in them, but the medium in which they are produced is so far removed from the original source medium that it becomes hard to decipher the images' origions. All that can be seen is the suggestion of people painted onto wood. Who these people are, what they're doing, what their goals are, and where they originated, are completely obscured.
The only hint I give is through the name, as each piece is named after a specific quote from the film from which it was derived. By giving each piece such a name, I try to thwart my own creations by giving the viewers the hope of pulling back my corruption to see where the image underneath really belongs. If a viewer recognizes one of the quotes then he or she would be presented with a choice. The viewer could see the beauty of the hidden layer of my message or mentally sort my work as trivial images meant to capitalize on already popular franchises. In this way, I guide the viewers in how they distort their own ideas on me and my work.
In a sense, my characters go through six levels of distortion. From the idea of a message to mass distributed film; from mass distributed film to computer; from computer to distorted image; from distorted image to me; from me to my representation; from my representation to the viewer. Who knows what further levels of distortion my pieces will achieve? Who knows how deformed my visions of a false reality will become. I think one of my subjects puts it best:
“... Artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found something true about yourself.” - Alan Moore
To this end, I chose movies that deal with an individual's going against society in the hope of making the world bend to his or her own idea of perfection. I then chose important scenes from these movies and created distorted images of them using a computer. Many different images were produced, but I selected only those that placed the characters into a new context/landscape, thus creating a new scene with the potential for a new meaning. The characters also had to be completely unrecognizable, further pushing them away from their original context. I then painted these selected images onto 2x4 pieces of wood with latex paint.
The reason why I don’t simply print out the images is because this process seems too impersonal. In producing my work it is again distorted through me, making me a part of the process. Therefore, I completely and utterly remove the image from its initial source material. Not only are the images so perverted that it's nearly impossible to make out the characters in them, but the medium in which they are produced is so far removed from the original source medium that it becomes hard to decipher the images' origions. All that can be seen is the suggestion of people painted onto wood. Who these people are, what they're doing, what their goals are, and where they originated, are completely obscured.
The only hint I give is through the name, as each piece is named after a specific quote from the film from which it was derived. By giving each piece such a name, I try to thwart my own creations by giving the viewers the hope of pulling back my corruption to see where the image underneath really belongs. If a viewer recognizes one of the quotes then he or she would be presented with a choice. The viewer could see the beauty of the hidden layer of my message or mentally sort my work as trivial images meant to capitalize on already popular franchises. In this way, I guide the viewers in how they distort their own ideas on me and my work.
In a sense, my characters go through six levels of distortion. From the idea of a message to mass distributed film; from mass distributed film to computer; from computer to distorted image; from distorted image to me; from me to my representation; from my representation to the viewer. Who knows what further levels of distortion my pieces will achieve? Who knows how deformed my visions of a false reality will become. I think one of my subjects puts it best:
“... Artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found something true about yourself.” - Alan Moore