This is a piece made for an open call proposal. The call was for art in public space to be displayed on advertisement billboards around the city of Reykjavik.
I wanted to address the current issue of climate change that I regard stemming largely from our consumer culture.
Having a degree in International Marketing as well as Art, I know how big corporations operate. Maximizing profit means maximizing sales. Likewise, countries and governments around the world aim for growing GDP and creating jobs. It is all about MORE. Our culture, mentality and focus is always on more. It is likely that the general public has not been aware of the fact that just creating garbage is reflected in the GDP; so in theory a company could produce waste simply to burn it – with no sales at all – and it would increase its country’s GDP.
Likewise the consumer has been trained in always wanting more. Obviously it stems from evolution and should be attributed to human nature. Nevertheless it is a huge contributor to the increase in carbon gas emission around the globe and a serious problem as we are increasingly being aware.
I thought it fitting to create a piece that displays the “Mantra” – More, More More, wrapped in a neon glow reminiscent of a Christmas tree and present it on advertisement billboards around the city.
When modeling in a 3D program it is all about topology and clean meshes. This one is only quads and, although simple as a model, surprisingly hard to achieve.
I have been working with 3D modelling and incorporating it into my art for many years. This methodology really took off for me when I got to know Blender. Ton Roosendaal, the founder of the Blender Institute is a remarkable man. He created this remarkable software and insists on it being an open source environment and completely free to use. The Blender community is also astounding; a real peer–to–peer community where one can get help and tips to further one’s art and craft. If you know Python you can customize the program making it completely streamlined to serve your needs.
Today I am using it to make interactive art projects, using another amazing software called Max to midi control 3D models and environments – I love it.
Well…
This is a work contemplating on current affairs in 2021
A work made to address what I find to be increased strain on freedom of expression in the west in the twenty first century.