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Artist Statement Here!

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Social media is something I despise, a cesspool of accursed content seeking even a second of fame. And yet, I find myself always going back to it when I am in a foul mood, a bored mood, a disengaged mood. Worse, I find myself within this demonic grip on the days I wish to avoid work. Whether it be school work or work for my hobbies, or even when I for some foul reason can't get myself to engage in my hobbies, my phone and social media have a hold on me. The deathly duo consume my very reality and time before I am able to finally look away, and I let them get away with it. I chose to depict this conundrum of consumption of my time and energy through a stylized self-portrait of myself on my phone. I used a digital medium in order to tie it further to the digital landscape that I have a love-hate relationship with, and I chose to represent the grip of the technology with both my charger cord slowly strangling my neck and a set of demonic hands either holding me or encouraging me to look at my screen. This relationship, the reciprocal nature of it is about that I let the social media consume and even if I recognize I need to look away, it always finds a way to keep me held in place. The imagery I took inspiration from in order to further push the air of demonic and evil nature of the activity despite it looking normal in reality, I looked at the artwork of Kentaro Miura and his use of faded blacks and inhuman traits in his iconic manga series Berserk to depict the demon antagonists. I wanted to replicate the evil feel within the image despite the actual action taking place within a place of comfort such as a bed. What I aimed to depict with this entire image is my reality being consumed by digital media that I can't leave alone, nor can I escape it willingly in a twisted turn of fate.

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The artistic processes and tools that I used were my tablet and apple pencil. I used my tablet to gather photographic imagery to create a collage. I used layering and collaging. I layered things like a photograph of a consumer, an apple add, old iphone waste, a text bubble, and also text.

I took inspiration from seeing consumer adds for apple in my email and also consumer adds for apple through network carriers. I feel that I tend to see a lot of this,I have to have the best new thing mentality in life. A lot of individuals have grown very attached to their phone with it being their main priority. Our world is rapidly evolving to be more technical so smartphone upgrades have become a significant aspect of consumer behavior. Apple annually releases new phones and it seems like you just keep spending money but there is a huge consumer manufacturer cycle in this. The reciprocal relationship apple plays a role in the work is their innovation and marketing.  Apple consistently releases new products specifically iphones with new features, a new look, sometimes new colors. Their marketing creates a sense of urgency for consumers to upgrade. A lot of times carriers will promote deals to make the upgrade more appealing as well. Another role apple plays is their perception of value. Their products are promoted as high quality and premium. When doing this it creates a desire in consumers to continually upgrade. The relationship that the consumer plays a role in is feedback and demand. The preferences of the consumers shape apples product developments. Once the feedback is put into action then the product becomes high in demand. Another role that consumers play has to do with the ecosystem lock in which is apples icloud, apple music and other things only apple has to store your things that you consume. This makes consumers more likely to upgrade to the same company to maintain compatibility. Apple has created a dependency through this. The reciprocal relationship also has environmental consequences. When consumers annually upgrade this creates e-waste, but apple does encourage trade ins for recycling although they do not accept trade ins of an older phone from their line typically its only a couple years back.

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Which artistic processes and tools did you use to create the work?

I used glue, an X-acto knife, masking tape, found scraps, and trash.

I used my masking tape to plot my composition and help myself envision my final product.

Where did you find inspiration? (Artists, global issues, personal life, etc.)

I found inspiration in the materials around me and themes of my daily consumption of media and consumerism.

Define and discuss the reciprocal relationship present in your work.

I wanted to highlight the major waste that makeup and beauty products and brands perpetuate. The internet is rampant with all different kinds of makeup and beauty products being thrown at us left and right, especially to young audiences. Many of the brands I choose to include in my composition are ones I have seen trends around in the past 10 years. Many of which I have contributed to purchasing and using. The unfortunate problem with makeup waste is that it is hard to recycle old products. If a product expires and you still use it, you could introduce harmful bacteria to your face, but if you throw it out, it seems wasteful. You also can't give it to someone else like you would with old clothes unless you want to run the risk of introducing harmful bacteria to the next owner of your makeup. Most people I know will throw out their old makeup or let it rot in their cabinet. Either way, most consumers end up repurchasing the product or a similar product and follow the cycle again. Makeup and beauty products are essential to many people worldwide, but the packaging and advertising must change. Despite being extremely conscious of my plastic use, it is almost unavoidable when I am shopping for beauty products. Sustainable options are being manufactured and improved upon, but major brands are not following through or, if they do, doing so in the most sensationalized manner.

To sum it up, this is supposed to represent my distaste for excessive marketing, media manipulation, and excessive consumption.