Time for a new conversation
I guess the title might be a little confusing. But that’s what if feels like starting this new body of work – like I’m starting a new conversation.
I had been creating works based on Mexican Folklore, “Alebrijes” that were involved in a post apocalyptic future where tech and environmental changes had morphed animals into something else.
At the time this inspiration seemed fun. It was a great story line that kept me coming up with new ideas. I would set up these sci-fi scenes in my head and play them out with paint. It was great.
But as I put the finishing touches on my last piece, titled “Hammerhead”, I realized I had reached my limit for this topic, this storyline, this conversation. It was time for a new conversation.
My new body of work was spawned by a text and a painting that I had created almost 7 years ago.
Inspiration strikes
It was 8am on a Monday morning, and my wife had just sent me a text. “Don’t forget to take out the chicken for dinner tonight (smiley emoji)” I stared at the text for a while. It was such a simple familiar text sent by my wife, but I couldn’t get passed that smiley emoji.
I started to ask myself, is my wife really smiling as she sent that? Did I think of her smiling? If I were to text back “LOL, you know it, (laughing emoji)” would she visualize me laughing out loud even though I wasn’t?
I know that so many people use emojis to make a request seem friendly and non-threatening, which ultimately leads us to water down what we really mean.
It made me realize how filtered our reality has become. We find comfort in our technology, and that comfort enables us to filter what is truly real.
This realization led me to create a piece almost 7 years ago, “Good Morning Avatars”, and as is often the case with old bodies of work, here I am retuning to that conversation I had with my past self in hopes of exploring this idea further.
In this new body of work I attempt to reflect how our technology is so deeply embedded within all aspects of my, and our life, and how that affects thoughts, emotions, empathy, and me as a human.
I can’t remember the last time I actually had an in depth conversation with a stranger in real life. To be honest, I no longer would feel comfortable to do so. I would rather get their digital profile first, which now-a-days encompasses their Instagram handle, email, or phone number. That way I can start a conversation with them in a way that feels “safe” via our digital world through the devices and channels we have in common. I wonder if other people feel the same way?
Where did I veer off track so much where the one thing that we need in our lives, human connection, has to be filtered to feel real? Reality is now flawed for me. Biased news outlets, Instagram reality, my texts, Zoom sessions, the list goes on.
This work is not intended to have a certain opinion or bias but instead try to pose the truth of what I live in.
I believe we as humans are fucked up, anxiety ridden, jealous, hateful, angry, loving, caring, beautiful, creative creatures and our technology is a mirror of that. And why would it not be, we created it.