Where ICONS Tread

Abstract

How do we personally address that which makes us uncomfortable? In a world leering at us from all angles, it can be difficult not to feel as if one is subjected to the gaze or whims of factors far beyond the individual capability to change them. From my perspective, this fundamental infringement upon personal autonomy is the supreme discomfort, and force to be challenged. Thus, I engaged upon the path of my Senior Individualized Project (SIP), and through the process of many iterations and refinement of my artmaking, I arrived at the final body of work that sought to answer this question. Using cardboard as my medium, I created what I named “the Icons” or physical manifestations of these 21st century anxieties, constructed on a near-human scale so that they may be pulled from the immaterial plane being rendered corporeal in an effort to weaken their power as they are subjected to the gaze of the individual and rendered comprehensible.