Sculptures 2018-20XX

FOREIGN TOTEMIC HIERARCHIES

This Foreign Totemic Hierarchies sculpture series starts by being a humble homage to the elegant forces of the universe, expressed by physically displaying our deep connection and relation with Harmony via the beauty of order and symmetry. Then, it aims at triggering each person’s unique sensitivity to the psychological phenomenon known as pareidolia. Most hints are obvious, but still a lot aren’t. In fact, even as the creator, I keep being shown by other people, examples in my designs that I hadn’t even seen myself before, just like a Rorschach test can be interpreted differently by anyone. But ultimately in the process, I wish to open the viewers’ mind as to what other alien life might construct as social ranks in their own distant worlds, hoping one can imagine the potential myths and stories that lie behind their various physiognomies as well as their importance through positioning and proportion. This, in hope than by imagining such “exotic” societal structures might help self-reveal insightful patterns in ours.

This collection was first based on collages made from various but specific groups of elements such as mushrooms, church architecture, marine life, while others purely originated from abstract digital paintings made specifically for this project. Through selected kaleidoscopic manipulations and extensive coloring explorations, I then reassembled them into tridimensional constructions with totem-like structures or imbricated facial ensembles, all of which offer a visually varied interpretation that can be seen as much in detail as in an overall view.