The Dangerous Deconstruction of Existential Identity
Paintings from my Women’s Series were deconstructed (put under the knife so to speak) to create this piece. The viewer must first understand the concept of existentialism, a philosophy primarily credited to Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky and Sartre in the 19th and 20th centuries. In its most basic form, the concepts of existential thought are:
1. Humans are born into the world without a purpose and each individual is responsible for finding theirs.
2. Humans are free to make choices but must own the results.
3. One does not need to conform
4. The world is essentially meaningless, and each individual must define its value and meaning unto themselves.
Using this philosophy, I applied it to the worlds that are reality TV and social media. One cannot escape the use of filters, fillers, Botox, and surgery to change the appearance of an individual, ticking all the boxes listed above. But what about the inside? Is one doing these changes to alter how others see them? Are we out of control with the desire for exterior identity to conform to a standard set by an already unreal world? I have no answers. I only know my personal purpose, own my choices and value my existence. By deconstructing my own creations, I am controlling my legacy. I am making the choices as to what happens to the parts of me left behind.
Sacrificed from canvas to couture are the following paintings:
“The Miss America” series (the 12 that remained) 2009
“Extreme Makeover” 2004
“Botox to Block” 2005, which was accepted into “Woman!”, a 2008 National Juried Show held at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies at the New York Graduate School of Psychoanalysis in NYC, curated by Dan Gilhooley. (How ironic don’t you think?)
1. Humans are born into the world without a purpose and each individual is responsible for finding theirs.
2. Humans are free to make choices but must own the results.
3. One does not need to conform
4. The world is essentially meaningless, and each individual must define its value and meaning unto themselves.
Using this philosophy, I applied it to the worlds that are reality TV and social media. One cannot escape the use of filters, fillers, Botox, and surgery to change the appearance of an individual, ticking all the boxes listed above. But what about the inside? Is one doing these changes to alter how others see them? Are we out of control with the desire for exterior identity to conform to a standard set by an already unreal world? I have no answers. I only know my personal purpose, own my choices and value my existence. By deconstructing my own creations, I am controlling my legacy. I am making the choices as to what happens to the parts of me left behind.
Sacrificed from canvas to couture are the following paintings:
“The Miss America” series (the 12 that remained) 2009
“Extreme Makeover” 2004
“Botox to Block” 2005, which was accepted into “Woman!”, a 2008 National Juried Show held at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies at the New York Graduate School of Psychoanalysis in NYC, curated by Dan Gilhooley. (How ironic don’t you think?)