Lucien MALE
Kingswood College
VCE Studio Arts 3&4
Artist statement: Virtual insanity is a histrionic portrayal of environmental degradation. Each portrait in the series addresses a facet of spatial regression, forming a cohesive summation of the repercussions of human proliferation. A serpentine horizon line unifies the series through a lateral continuation, encapsulating the distinct issues of infrastructural dysfunction, green space scarcity, and catastrophic besmirching into a sequential narrative. The perpetual vignettes and dichotomisation of natural and urban forms induces a desensitisation towards dystopian environs, setting an aesthetic precedent for the landscape we have consigned to future generations.
Through the ubiquity of tonal drear and structural disarray, Virtual insanity, broadcasts an exhaustive commentary on the deterioration of the natural world, yet is imbued with a self-pitying subtlety. The legibility of the newspaper for the figure seated at the bench is impaired by the inescapable shade, meanwhile the power poles that stand sentinel on the snowy outcrop devalue the spiritual appeal of their surroundings, revealing the self-destructive nature of our ecological malevolence.
This series was produced by overlaying extractions from one composition atop of a base image. The scale and orientation of the additional layers were perverted through Photoshop techniques, before subjecting each portrait to a despondent colour treatment using Lightroom pre-sets. The distinct subject matters have been printed on canvas and stretched over wooden frames, linking them through a textural commonality.
Chromogenic prints are printed on paper that has at least three emulsion layers containing invisible dyes and silver salts. Each emulsion layer is sensitive to a different primary colour of light (red, green or blue). The development process converts the hidden dyes to visible colour depending on the amount of light it was exposed to. This type of paper is commonly used to print from colour negatives or digital files to produce a full-colour image. It can also be used to print black-and-white images, giving softer grain and less contrast than gelatin silver prints. Commonly known as c-type prints, chromogenic processing was developed in the 1940s and widely used for colour printing, including for domestic snapshots. While recent years have seen this process accompanied by ink-jet and digital printing technologies, chromogenic printing still remains in use to this day.
