Artist Statement
I was heavily affected by the concept that images seem to be lost in a complete abstraction of the hyperreal in which every symbol and simulated meaning becomes lost and worthless. Jean Baudrillard in his work on Simulacra and Simulations suggested that we are lost in a Möbius strip of intangible realities and simulations with images creating a hyperreality which leaves us in a liminal space of unfulfilled realities and images with abolished representation and referential. However, these images and the hegemonic power structures of power subverting them are still revered in a form of religious idolisation and nostalgia at the lost symbolism and ideals. Having explored the metamorphosis of aesthetic ideals, I wanted to question how aspirational and almost spiritual ideals of things like freedom, power, decadence are translated by the mass media into a tangible, aestheticised and commodified form, with this physical unreality being sold to us over and over. Our ideals are warped beyond any simulation recognisable of reality and can never be achieved yet we are sold these images as physical form and proof of its existence, when really the unending creation and consumption of these images creates a dislocated view which leads us to believe that these images can be the only desirable ‘real’.
The work of Richard Prince and his acts of re-appropriation of images was very influential. By re-appropriating the banal imagery of the symbols of idealism, and like Beth Cavener Stichter, turned to animal aesthetics to reveal humanity’s base desires and instincts whilst playing on the absurdity of such impossible constructed aspirations. I used the binary oppositions of the cat and the bird which are equally as flawed and ultimately meaningless, I furthered this by playing on the idea of exposure and rawness by stripping these images back to their bones. Also, I wanted to play on other aspects of symbolism associated with these concepts, with funguses becoming an integral part in my exploration of the parasitic, decaying role of the images with their audiences. I continued with the graphic novel aesthetic from previous works which seemed to address the paradox of ultimately unachievable ideals of freedom and decadence sold to us and also allowed me to strip my work down to a raw and intense central focus of works in dialogue with each other. It represents something almost real but with its bold form and colours can never reflect a reality which we perceive as ever achievable, creating the sense of society being entirely absorbed in the worship of the impossible aesthicisation of these ideals. With this, I found that digital painting allowed me to create this bold and chaotic unreality fiercely in working in the digital spaces that these images pervade.
My work then began to become more focussed, and allowed me to develop my caricatures of decadence and freedom which were the ideals that intrigued me most, especially when the imagery proliferated around them constructs them as binary oppositions. After using the ideals of the female form in my previous work I wanted to explore the use of the male form, and their dialogue within these religious quests of ideals which are constructed from the mass media. Their images become a bastardised ritual of worship to these superficial gods of ideals and a subversion of the worthless symbolisms that surround them in an attempt to make the most intangible and impossible concept a physical ghost in front of viewers, which also influenced my decision to display the digitally painted works in a glossy printed form, enhancing the paradox of their presentation.
Rebecca Elysium 