This piece plays with themes of gender, body dysmorphia, and universal standards. Inspired by colorful and corny boardwalk cut out boards, I wanted to create a piece that used the same form, but stripped the object of its lighthearted value. This cut out board depicts 2 “idealized” figures, warped and manipulated past the point of comfort. While the figures display supposedly desirable imagery, their body language conveys discomfort and embarrassment; the figures are grotesque, desexualized, and altogether uncomfortable to look at.
Many aspects of the piece show inaccessibility, the faces are cut at high heights prohibiting the audience from fitting into the cutouts.The usual colorful, silly imagery is gone, and in its place is a blank, creepy image that doesn't inspire the usual participation that these boards usually rely on. All of this is meant to beg the question, if an inaccessible universal standard is even desirable?
