ARTIST RESEARCH / CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

Kerry Ann Lee 

Kerry Ann Lee's art explores cultural intersections occurring in the space between private moments and public locations. With a background in graphic arts, she creates work that is both expressive and socially engaged by playfully investigating issues of identity and hybrid cultural formations through hand-made processes. 

http://www.whitespace.co.nz/artists/kerry-ann-lee.aspx 

I like the way lee has convincingly created a false environment using a combination of photography, image sourcing and illustration. Through the use of perspective, shadowing and scale Lee has created a unrecognisable scenario yet familiar  

Stuart Lipponcott

 Visual effects artist and animator Stuart Lippincott creates breathtaking ethereal scenarios in his ongoing “Everyday” series.

Petra Cortright

Shifting between the digital and the physical worlds, she interrogates definitions of painting and nags the boundaries of online/offline existence. Cortright creates her paintings from Internet-sourced imagery, which she digitally manipulates. Lifted from Google Images and Pinterest, colours, patterns, and skin tones are broken down and reintegrated to become the digital ‘paint’ from which Cortright builds slowly-morphing, fluid abstractions, consisting of hundreds of painterly layers and effects.

http://citygallery.org.nz/exhibitions/petra-cortright-running-neo-geo-games-under-mame/

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT 

For my investigation I am looking into the contemporary concern around social media, especially the rise of Instagram, and how this is changing the way we interact socially the world around us. Due to the fact that most people have access to a smart phone (which is basically a networking multimedia device with internet access at all times) everyone is a photographer now and choose snippets of their life to share with the rest of the world, in other worlds constructing their own virtual reality through social media.

With the rise of social media, ordinary people who have done exceptionally well at constructing their own personal life through Instagram have gained popularity, fame, recognition, opportunities and in some cases wealth. These people who now are social media famous, have a large audience and lots of influence on these people, especially the easily influenced minds of the youth that use Instagram, Where as when I was growing up people who influenced me were famous sports people and celebrities in movies etc.

More specifically I would like to make a comment on how 'Instagram famous' people have a large influence on a younger generation and they often promote many things a traditional celebrity would not.