Senior Art Thesis

Caitlin Becker

ARTIST STATEMENT:


I depend on technology. I depend on it to fall asleep and to wake up, and to do many things in between. Today, technology has become critical to our society. It has allowed us to advance in many ways, but it has also changed human behavior.
For my senior project I chose to portray this concept with a series of chiaroscuro portraits in which the subject is illuminated by light from an electronic device. The light from these devices are different from sunlight. It is sharp, cold, and unnatural. Screens have the undeniable power to mesmerize the user. We often are not aware of the amount of time that we spend staring into screens. I have experienced and observed groups of people in which each person is looking down at their phone, disconnected from reality. Technology has increased social isolation and made human to human contact less necessary, which is something I chose to portray by painting isolated sub-jects, surrounded with nothing but darkness.
Light is traditionally symbolic of power, hope, and happiness.

These portraits are meant to question the character of the light that comes from technology.

I would like to thank the Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Fund for their generous support.

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