"I'm Sorry" consists of three digitally altered identical images. The piece speaks specifically to the emotional evolution of the generation generally referred to as Gen Z. The piece consists of three photographs of the artist’s teen daughter, a Gen Z teen.
The picture is altered three times.
The first is altered with flowers, exploring fresh life's candid innocence and beauty.
In the second photograph, the child's image is covered with several penetrable lines, which imply the dynamics of gaining independence and becoming self-aware.
The third image's black mask represents the inevitable anger accompanying disillusionment.
The picture is altered three times.
The first is altered with flowers, exploring fresh life's candid innocence and beauty.
In the second photograph, the child's image is covered with several penetrable lines, which imply the dynamics of gaining independence and becoming self-aware.
The third image's black mask represents the inevitable anger accompanying disillusionment.
In this project, Lisa Stefanelli, a self-proclaimed aestheticist, exploits digital visual seduction by intentionally maximizing images through visceral visual elements and conceptual endeavors.
The work's conceptual elements are familiar occurrences, political or not, weapon control, parenting, and the isolation of individual identity and its role in cultural evolution.
“I’m Sorry” began with a photograph of my 13-year-old child.
I try to recall the circumstances, which are vague, but I do remember that it was summertime. We were standing on a pretty, abandoned porch on the side of our house we rarely visit.
It was morning.
It's not as though I thought she appeared especially intriguing that day.
I didn't consider the light to be anything special, but I asked her to let me take a picture.
She didn't say anything which at the time represented a yes.
The event didn’t mean much at the time. The photo was taken two years ago.
Since that time my children have entered puberty, post puberty and adolescence.
Children at this age are particularly complex.
For those of us far enough away (chronologically) from when we were passing through childhood to sexual maturity, it is even more difficult to understand the behavior of a child.
Without compassion it becomes more complex to observe and endure the behavior of a teen.
My daughter took the opportunity to raise hell about the disrespect that I was spewing upon her identity by using her image for my art. She grasped at anything she could to formulate an argument for self defense.
She asked for the number of the art dealer who I had released the images to so that she could have a convesation with him regarding the release of the images. She wanted to know where it was being posted and who would be buying these images. She did not want her image used to
“make money”.
I assured her that there was little to no money to be made. “Trust me.”
“How can I ever trust you?”
The issue persisted to involve her father, and then there was a deeper problem, and she grew stronger and stronger with the disruption she was manufacturing in the family. She was making a point and we were all suffering.
I researched and consulted friends.
The work's conceptual elements are familiar occurrences, political or not, weapon control, parenting, and the isolation of individual identity and its role in cultural evolution.
“I’m Sorry” began with a photograph of my 13-year-old child.
I try to recall the circumstances, which are vague, but I do remember that it was summertime. We were standing on a pretty, abandoned porch on the side of our house we rarely visit.
It was morning.
It's not as though I thought she appeared especially intriguing that day.
I didn't consider the light to be anything special, but I asked her to let me take a picture.
She didn't say anything which at the time represented a yes.
The event didn’t mean much at the time. The photo was taken two years ago.
Since that time my children have entered puberty, post puberty and adolescence.
Children at this age are particularly complex.
For those of us far enough away (chronologically) from when we were passing through childhood to sexual maturity, it is even more difficult to understand the behavior of a child.
Without compassion it becomes more complex to observe and endure the behavior of a teen.
My daughter took the opportunity to raise hell about the disrespect that I was spewing upon her identity by using her image for my art. She grasped at anything she could to formulate an argument for self defense.
She asked for the number of the art dealer who I had released the images to so that she could have a convesation with him regarding the release of the images. She wanted to know where it was being posted and who would be buying these images. She did not want her image used to
“make money”.
I assured her that there was little to no money to be made. “Trust me.”
“How can I ever trust you?”
The issue persisted to involve her father, and then there was a deeper problem, and she grew stronger and stronger with the disruption she was manufacturing in the family. She was making a point and we were all suffering.
I researched and consulted friends.
Gen Z is a generation that is being taught digital/cyber etiquette. Lessons begin at home. I learned that what I did was unethical and inconsiderate. Gen Z needs to learn how to advocate for their digital privacy and how to uphold consideration for others.
I was wrong. I was following my parents’ thought patterns: you’re my kid, and until you’re 18, you’re mine and your image belongs to me. Too bad. Cry a river. That’s the way it is.
Eventually, the entire family turned against me, including her father, and I had to make a change. Not only in my thought process but in the work.
I bought an image of a blond child from Dreamstime for $20.00 and reproduced the work using a model.
Problem solved.
The piece completely altered. Now the image is of two entirely different people, one real and loved, the other real, but not loved by this artist. For my practice, the inclusion and utilization of love is essential for art to thrive.
I was wrong. I was following my parents’ thought patterns: you’re my kid, and until you’re 18, you’re mine and your image belongs to me. Too bad. Cry a river. That’s the way it is.
Eventually, the entire family turned against me, including her father, and I had to make a change. Not only in my thought process but in the work.
I bought an image of a blond child from Dreamstime for $20.00 and reproduced the work using a model.
Problem solved.
The piece completely altered. Now the image is of two entirely different people, one real and loved, the other real, but not loved by this artist. For my practice, the inclusion and utilization of love is essential for art to thrive.
Artist Statement: The underlying pursuit of my studio practice is to examine the possibility of being simultaneously involved and uninvolved in the complexity of all of our animate and inanimate relationships
The work can be elaborate and complicated while concurrently yearning to avoid the entanglements it embodies. Minimalist pursuit amid this complexity is an ambition of my practice, both conceptually and actually.
There is joy in the confusion we live in and around.
My practice chases that joy.
Artist’s Bio:
Lisa Stefanelli is a painter known for her work in hardline, linear abstraction. Her “Melee” series (1998-2015) is associated with her formative years as a competitive figure skater. Made of automotive paint on panel and using a multitude of visual references, the paintings represent a conversation around the artist’s view of our relationships. They display both grace and complexity in their entanglements, trajectories, and occasional estrangements, and attempt to resolve the struggle that they depict and embody. In the 2010s, Stefanelli began a digital practice centered around concepts from the natural world. This work suggests that all human actions have natural origins.
The work can be elaborate and complicated while concurrently yearning to avoid the entanglements it embodies. Minimalist pursuit amid this complexity is an ambition of my practice, both conceptually and actually.
There is joy in the confusion we live in and around.
My practice chases that joy.
Artist’s Bio:
Lisa Stefanelli is a painter known for her work in hardline, linear abstraction. Her “Melee” series (1998-2015) is associated with her formative years as a competitive figure skater. Made of automotive paint on panel and using a multitude of visual references, the paintings represent a conversation around the artist’s view of our relationships. They display both grace and complexity in their entanglements, trajectories, and occasional estrangements, and attempt to resolve the struggle that they depict and embody. In the 2010s, Stefanelli began a digital practice centered around concepts from the natural world. This work suggests that all human actions have natural origins.
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