The requirements for this assignment were loose and subject to change (frequently) as the professor was the most disorganized professor I've had to date.  The size was to be 3' x 5' or larger.  Initially we were asked to develop a piece under the theme of Utopia / Dystopia.  We were supposed to select two sci-fi / cyberpunk resources (books, movies, songs, etc) as a basis for our piece.  We could focus on either Utopia, Dystopia or combine them.  After we selected our sources we were supposed to apply them to our currently world. 

For my sources I chose the book "Snow Crash"  and the TV series Babylon 5 as my two main sources but also used, in a generic sense, anime and video games too. The piece was damaged due to the torential rainstorm that was going on as I carried the piece in.  I had it protected by plastic which worked until water from the plastic dripped onto the piece as I was pulling the plastic off.  Doh!  The damage is seen on the far left panel at the top.

The Left Panel:  In the book "Snow Crash" the world was filled with corporate logos as far as the eye could see.  To modernize this I used logos from current businesses like Microsoft, Apple, and BP.  I aslo selected many commonly used symbols to create a city-like world:  wireless bars are now buildings, the wireless symbol is a large tower, the symbol for "hot" is now a sewer, the recycle bin is exactly that, the people are all symbols from common signage as is the truck, the symbols on the road are the fast forward/rewind symbols. The sky is filled with computing clouds (i.e. cloud computing).  The one direct nod to the book is the sign that reads "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong." 

The Center Panel:  A basic anime inspired avatar.  She stands on a blank 3D grid commonly used in applications like 3D Studio Max which is one software packaged used in the creation of video game models.  The avatar's arms and legs turn into wires that lead into the right panel and roots that lead into the left panel. This is done to demonstrate that she is torn between two worlds - technology and nature.  Which is Utopia?  Which is Dystopia? Can each panel be both?  These are the questions I left open to the viewer. 

The Right Panel:  Is a basic landscape.  In the TV Series "Bablyon 5," the designers of the space station took great care in recreating gardens for each of the major alien races represented on the station.  The gardens were a place of serenity and peace.  The series had many episodes involving them in some way shape or form.  This was important, in my mind, as it served as the perfect juxtaposition between nature and technology.

The Overall Image:  was chosen specifically to include nearly every element that I was told the art department at George Mason University, overall, hates. I applied to the BFA program and during the pre-application review I was told by some of the digital art professors that there is a list of things the fine art teachers immediately dismiss applicants for. The list did not include quality of the work or the skill of the artist.  No, the list contained themes that the fine art teachers were "tired of seeing" and were, in general "bored with."   I was specifically told NOT INCLUDE works containing:  boobs, butterflys, flowers, fairies or other fantasy creatures, landscapes, anime, nudity of any kind (but especially not large breasted women), etc.  So I tried to include as many of those things as I could because I was extremely offended that I couldn't include most of my digital work because I utilize many of those themes.  As a woman with large breasts I resent this idea any depiction of a nude breasts, especially large ones, is automatically pornographic (which was the reason why nudity and large breasts specificly were on the list in the first place).  Even though my specialty is digital art, I wasn't even required to present digital pieces.  I was accepted into the program but it means nothing considering I wasn't judged on any real merit, skill, or talent.

The Critique:  As for the review of this piece, I don't know how it went.  I walked out, with my work, before it was critiqued.  Art teachers seem to feel that 90% of the thier job is to convert students to their political ideologies and this professor went above and beyond.  In addition to not holding students accountable for fufilling the requirements of the assignment (many just did whatever they wanted, cited no sources nor could even explain whether their piece was Utiopian/Dystopian or both), the 'critique' was nothing more a meeting of the ultra-leftist party.  I walked out after a student presented his Utopian piece in which there was a highway sign that said "America" and the Coca-Cola logo.  For at least 20 minutes he was told it couldn't be Utopian because America and Coke are both evil - literally "EVIL." After already sitting through over a hour of "critiques" extolling the amazing ways that art could transform the world (though no proof of this claim could be provided regardless of how many times I asked for it) and how corporations of all kinds were evil, I realized that I was going to have to defend not the quality (or lackthereof) of my work but the companies whose symbols I used. As I thought I was there for a critique, I hadn't prepared to give an economics and buisness lecture.  I also was uninterested in educating monkeys as to how the business world works.  I was there as a student of drawing trying to get her worked critiqued. Since that was obviously not going to happen I left. I got a B- in the class because of it which was fine with me.  She could have given me an F and I would have proudly accepted it as I walked out on principle and with my integrity intact. Her B- had little effect as I still made Dean's List. 

Materials Used:  Chalk pastels, drawing paper, foam core board, copper wire, felt pen (for black outlines)

Completed:  May 2009