“Can’t Delete Later” is a visual diagram engineered digitally and reproduced in oil paint and graphite. I chose a diagram format to best illustrate how a cultural reference that primarily exists within virtual reality can interfere with what is produced in what we consider the “real” reality (physicality). In simpler terms, what once only existed in a virtual reality takes over as the new reality and our behaviors reveal the ways in which the virtual has permeated the physical.
Devirtualization, Oil on wood, 2021
The Fortnite dance mimicking “The Carlton'' inspires its initial performer, Alfonso Ribeiro, to re-interpret his famous dance once again and post it on TikTok. Airsoft players find themselves captivated less by real warfare but instead try to mimic what they observed in video games like Call of Duty. Both of the aforementioned examples are illustrated, It also includes a still from the Youtube video Dorime Hatsune Miku Doge. Ultimately, the painting hopes to appreciate, through an accessible format, the importance digital culture holds over our realities. This accessibility is understood to be derived from its presentation as an oil painting, but even still is what I consider a devirtualization of digital art rather than a traditional painting.
