BFA PAINTING THESIS SHOW - MAY 10-14
X Ding - EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
Quincy Kmetz - Hyperreality
Shelton Brown - Fight or Flight
Links
Xitong Ding - Instagram: @lotrdame Quincy Kmetz - Instagram: @qkmetz URL: qkmetz.com Shelton Brown - Instagram: sheltonjbrown URL: sheltonjbrown.com
Xitong Ding - Artist Statement
The content of my creation is essences, but to be more exact, it is that something special and unexpected that defines a certain aspect of the human experience. The connection and disconnection with people whom we’ve never met, and with people whom we are so close to that we cannot imagine life without them; the bond between parent and child, and between lovers, that is sometimes a little disturbing, the relationship we have with ourselves from both within and without the body; and that uncrossable distance between life and death, and between the past and present and future, can sometimes be crossed through spiritual inspection. The list goes on.
The Alien is a human creation, in creating the alien, the human becomes the god. God is said to have made man in his likeness, so we too make the alien in our likeness.
Instead of relating to the humans, I relate more to the blue aliens. I keep thinking about the similarities that exist between them and real humans, the parallel between their assumed superiority and our social class structures, We identify similarities and dissimilarities in aliens, because the alien is being used to define humanity, the alien is our creation based on our understanding of who we are and who we are not, and here’s the thing about creation, it always contains a part of the creator.
The Alien is a human creation, in creating the alien, the human becomes the god. God is said to have made man in his likeness, so we too make the alien in our likeness.
Instead of relating to the humans, I relate more to the blue aliens. I keep thinking about the similarities that exist between them and real humans, the parallel between their assumed superiority and our social class structures, We identify similarities and dissimilarities in aliens, because the alien is being used to define humanity, the alien is our creation based on our understanding of who we are and who we are not, and here’s the thing about creation, it always contains a part of the creator.
Quincy Kmetz - Artist Statement
This body of work titled Hyperreality is an experimental take on narrative painting, dealing with the immediate and unforeseen consequences of modern data technology and the lack of regulation behind it.
The narrative of this series is driven by developments in the United States following the permeation of DT, contextualized by historical events. It is purely informative, curated to draw parallels between scenes within the last century. It is structurally modeled by The Great Hack, a 2019 documentary film about the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, produced and directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer.
This series consists of 5 paintings referred to as “pages” and acts as a visual comic book. Each painting is oil and cold wax on stretched canvas at an immersive scale (69” X 45”). Taking inspiration from political comics and propaganda posters, the goal of this work is to be reflective of the time in which it was made and easily digitized for circulation on the very platform it criticizes.
The narrative of this series is driven by developments in the United States following the permeation of DT, contextualized by historical events. It is purely informative, curated to draw parallels between scenes within the last century. It is structurally modeled by The Great Hack, a 2019 documentary film about the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, produced and directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer.
This series consists of 5 paintings referred to as “pages” and acts as a visual comic book. Each painting is oil and cold wax on stretched canvas at an immersive scale (69” X 45”). Taking inspiration from political comics and propaganda posters, the goal of this work is to be reflective of the time in which it was made and easily digitized for circulation on the very platform it criticizes.