The Post-Mod Wallflowers   

Fond as I am of the 1960s aesthetic, the period also coincides with the birth of postmodernism, a seminal point in art history which continues well into contemporary culture. The Mod subculture of the time aimed to reject the ideals of the previous generation in a quest for identity and self-expression with an obsessive and streamlined approach to luxury consumerism. In my contemporary postmodern approach, I chose to feature subjects from East Asia, an area of mega-consumer cultures that are particularly adept at appropriating global trends and niches, but not directly associated with the subculture at the time.

Each subject is meticulously groomed for reception and compositionally arranged within environments of varying Mod era graphic motifs to represent their culturally appropriated personalities.

The use of sunglasses to reflect, compositionally enhance, or dissolve into the stylised settings creates environment-based identities that disregard authentic self expression by obstructing the ‘windows to the soul’ with decorative or content-free facades, producing an air of mystique and intrigue.

I created this series to be site-specific for a decidedly consumerist affair at the 2024 Auckland Art Show. Knowing that attention would be spread thin in this environment, I came up with the concept of presenting wallflowers (a term commonly given to the women lining the walls of a party who haven't been asked to dance). Each wallflower is unique, though the series is arranged in a uniform grid without favouritism, as a nod to the communist ideals (echoed in the colour palette) which were popular among the altruistic, intellectual youth of the 1960s - who also happened to be obsessed with fashion.

Thirty haphazardly uniform wallflowers will wallpaper my allotted space in this cash and carry affair – where the object of the show is to sell, sell, sell – while any voids created by sales would upset the solidarity of the series as a unit, and become part of the conceptual work itself. The remaining pieces will sink through phases of rejection: second choice, last resort, outright rejection - thus revealing the “identity” of the authentic wallflowers of the series.