#nofilter
My senior thesis show
April 2014 | Duration: One semester
Overview
#NOFILTER, my final thesis show, was held at University of Virginia's Ruffin Hall. I have always been interested in how social media, pop culture, and media affect society. By using technology to combine old paintings, like Nighthawks, Starry Night, Birth of Venus, and various works of Roy Liechtenstein, and various aspects of the internet, I wanted to bring new context to the old paintings and emphasize the differences between what was valued in the past compared to now.
#NOFILTER deals with the growing popularity of hashtags, ups and downs of the internet, including various social media outlets, and people's desire to be affirmed through their posts. Like the meaning of "no filter," I wanted my art pieces to reveal the truth of social media without filtering out anything.
The details
The show had four pieces, which you can read about below:
Fading Beauty | Birth of Venus and Portrait of Madame X are portraits of two of the most beautiful women immortalized through art. However, some would argue that Venus and Madame X do not fit our current standards of beauty because curvier women were considered the epitome of beauty during their time. The Biggest Loser is a show where overweight contestants compete to win a prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight. The animation shows Venus and Madame X alternating between two body sizes. and, through this piece, I wanted to highlight how beauty is basically a social construct and its definition and measurement change over time.
Facebook Drama (left) | Since the rise of Facebook, it has become socially acceptable for people to "stalk" others online. I made two accounts with profile pictures of women and men commonly portrayed in Roy Liechtenstein's works. The animation shows the woman refreshing and revisiting the man's Facebook page in an endless loop to emphasize people's obsession with knowing the lives of others.
Instaselfie (right) | Many people, including my grandmother, are a fan of taking selfies. Even before technology allowed us to conveniently take as many selfies as we want, people liked to have "selfies" in the form of self portraits. This animation features many famous self portraits in the form of Instagram posts. It also includes popularly used hashtags, like #throwbackthursday and #flashbackfriday, which people often use to post good selfies from the past.
Google Maps | Applications, like Google Maps, have made it convenient for people to search anything they would like with a few keystrokes. Previously, paintings were the only ways to capture a landscape. However, now we can see a glimpse of any place in the world in the comforts of our living rooms. I animated Nighthawks and Starry Night with Google Maps' search bar on the top left corner.