Transfigurations

collages assembled from hand-cut pieces of pseudo-scientific and pseudospiritual magazine ads with titles taken from adspeak
Artwork

Transfigurations

2012
hand-cut magazine collages assembled on Arches Aquarelle archival watercolor paper
14 H × 10 W in (35.56 H × 25.4 W cm) each
31 in series

Transfigurations examines pseudo-scientific and pseudo-spiritual tropes in health, beauty, fashion and lifestyle advertising. Didactic diagrams, scientific illustrations and allusions to nature come together with seductive smudges, ecstatic splashes and sugary drips. Titles for the series are taken from the adspeak in the magazine sources and include language that conflates science, magic, enlightenment, and salvation with phrases like:

  • A New Vision of Perfection
  • Advanced Treatments From Nature
  • Air-Infused
  • An Amazing New Lift From Nature
  • As If Lit From Within
  • Carefully Selected Ingredients And Specialized Technologies
  • Divine
  • Dream Liquid
  • Elevate Your Experience Of Infinite Beauty
  • Exotic Extract
  • Gene Science Intervention
  • Made By The Same Scientists Who Created The Gold Standard
  • New Magic
  • The New Future Of Infinite Beauty

Transfigurations examines pseudo-scientific and pseudo-spiritual tropes in health, beauty, fashion and lifestyle advertising. Didactic diagrams, scientific illustrations and allusions to nature come together with seductive smudges, ecstatic splashes and sugary drips. Titles for the series are taken from the adspeak in the magazine sources and include language that conflates science, magic, enlightenment, and salvation with phrases like:

  • A New Vision of Perfection
  • Advanced Treatments From Nature
  • Air-Infused
  • An Amazing New Lift From Nature
  • As If Lit From Within
  • Carefully Selected Ingredients And Specialized Technologies
  • Divine
  • Dream Liquid
  • Elevate Your Experience Of Infinite Beauty
  • Exotic Extract
  • Gene Science Intervention
  • Made By The Same Scientists Who Created The Gold Standard
  • New Magic
  • The New Future Of Infinite Beauty
Lenscratch

…Taking a captivating approach, Splan puts the viewer on edge by questioning current media ideologies related to medical science…

Tofte Lake Center
Jerome Foundation
Vermont Studio Center
Stanford University

Project support provided by Vermont Studio Center Artist Residency Grant, Tofte Lake Center Emerging Artists Program/Jerome Foundation Fellowship, Stanford University