- Maker: Mike Lynn
- Genre: Parody / Surrealism
- Level: Graduate
- Program: Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
- Course: WRIT 5340: Multimodality & Digital Media
- Instructor: Dr. Eric Mason
- Semester Created: Winter 2021
Description:
This project was made to exemplify a parodic text, one which defines, plays with, or re-imagines a genre to serve something other than its original purpose. My attempt is the “Gallery of ‘New-Normal’ Art,” featuring parodic imagery of some contemporary art exhibitions, such as:
- Andy Warhol’s 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962)
- Rene Magritte’s The Son of Man (1946)
- Grant Wood’s American Gothic (1930)
- Edvard Munch’s The Scream (1893)
These examples are made to showcase how the COVID-19 virus is applied to the modern times, both as a message stating that anybody could be affected and as a way of showcasing how pandemics themselves are timeless.
Reflection:
In this series of pictures, I found that the usage of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator were entertaining to use, as well as the trial and error process of attempting to apply the right lighting and filters to each respective mask. I felt that by choosing surrealist works would further exemplify how surreal the world feels through the age of COVID-19. Further, I enjoyed satirizing some of my favorite artistic works that feel familiar to me and spinning them into a new setting. I feel that this twist on iconic imagery is humorous in an absurd way, but also brings out a sense of introspection as it reminds me of the initial shock of seeing my friends, family members and relatively large crowds of people wearing masks – a precedent that I could have never predicted.
