secret j
2013
Perversion is everywhere, and aside from real, physical perversion there are few opportunities to experiment with personal and public taboos. Yet in the creative act of fashion and art, many designers and artists, if not all, are guilty of voyeurism. My ambition is to search for myself as a pervert and the perversion of the world around me. Secret J is about exposing this perversion by combining myself with the object I have fixated on, a kind of interpassivity, turning the pervert from hidden voyeur into the subject of his own gaze. Secret J explores my own perversion in Asian Pop Art. Taking from music and graphic culture, it looks for the hidden sexuality coded into these everyday and cult images.
materials
Sexuality is strongest in places we want it to be the least, therefore the cute and childlike qualities of Asian pop art guide the materials used. Using laser cut vinyl scales, the materiality translates the same softness and childlike familiarity of toys. The abundance of neon-colored hair in this culture prompted its use in the collection in order to make another visual connection to Asian Pop.
Funded by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.
mood
The exploration of Secret J began in the cult obsession with faces by perverting Asian Pop idols in terms of strong “kawaii” graphics. The shapes used are derivations from the body that later become the basis for the collection. This act is to sexualize and pervert iconic images in Asian Pop Art.
