Task 1: Art as Lens
REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
The focus for this experimental folio was an Ultraman figurine. The toy is one of the most iconic Tokusatsu superheroes in Japan, shaping the childhood of generations from the Showa to Heisei Period.
The model was investigated through various lenses, focusing on how a culturally iconic character could be manipulated to convey unorthodox meaning. A various range of media was used to convey and develop the importance of memories as valuables, but also its drawbacks. This includes, the physical, the digital, the two-dimensional, the three-dimensional, the monotone and the colourful.
The figurine is explored through a personal context because of its deep connection to my childhood. The toy represents my connection to both the Japanese culture and to both my dad’s and my childhood (the television program premiered in 1966).
My experimental artworks have been inspired by contemporary artists who explore items, feelings, or ideas they consider valuable. In Michael Zavros’s ‘Falling’ series, it portrays these ‘things’ that are of value to them but unlike societal conventions, these valuable ‘things’ are not portrayed to be beautiful or delicate. Value is demonstrable through various lenses.
As a child I once idolized the 40m tall goliaths who fought monsters to protect the Earth. The superheroes on my television screen lit a spark of enjoyment in my childhood.
Within my artworks, the worn-out toy, which is neither beautiful or perfect, is held as something of utmost value, because it is a representation of my childhood, a time of fondness and nostalgia.