Oil on Canvas

180 x 70 x 50cm

In this project, I explore notions of consent, subjecthood, representation, and memory. These Ghost Portraits  were made using images generated with Open AI’s Dall-E. Influenced by the works of Refik Anudol and Francis Bacon, I use expressive figuration to examine the tokenization of the human figure which takes place through the blockchain. Echoing the violence of this process of atomization of human essence, I experiment with techniques of destruction to bring this focus on atomized human essence to the forefront. Within my initial experimentations, I explore this subject of figurative destruction through material experimentation, using Zinc White paint due to its transformative properties - as Zinc White pigment ages, it turns increasingly transparent. These portraits will disappear over time.

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Inspired by tactics of collage, I explored other methods of destruction, creating negative space within the portrait which I then bridged with thread. Drawing upon notions of psychogeography, I experimented with the collection, aggregation, and retrieval of data of my own. I sketched and painted speed portraits in public places, preserving only the essence of the people I depicted. I then returned to the studio, and reworked these images through processes of intervention and deconstruction/reconstruction. Through the creation and bridging of negative space in my resolved portraits, I allude to a certain violence which comes alongside the atomization of the human visage through the composition of unreal figures through the collation of different features.

 

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