Mc Venus
Isa Conscia depicts themes of female beauty, morality, femininity, and celebrity through 21st-century beauty icon and reality TV star Kim Kardashian. The composition borrows from Velazquez’s ‘Las Minas,’ which Foucault argues transformed representation to kill the notion of self. However, this goes further with a Jungian view of a contemporary world operating under a false self, which has collectively become the ultimate universal discourse of mediated truth. In a modern-day media circus, Kim K appears as the new act of curiosity, a living sculpture created by the male gaze and controlled by her husband, Kanye the Ring Master. Ronald McDonald was updated to be her comedian lover, Pete Davidson, as a nod to the mass manufacturing of beauty standards through plastic surgery. Heavy with symbolism, the black cat evokes the prostitute in Manet’s Olympia, and the skull is a nod to Mary Magdalene and Van Gogh – the new reality is merely the old reality transformed and subverted.
100% American
An exploration of contemporary socio-cultural issues on the American political landscape, questioning gender, history, race, religion, and the media. Painted by my persona, Isa Conscia, it begs the question: is Trump drowning the Black woman, or is he baptising and saving his friend Whitney Houston? Both key celebrity cult figures in 1980’s popular culture, the idea that Trump was a racist back then was laughable, as Black celebrities celebrated him. The painting provokes the discourse of how racial divisions began to seep into American politics post-Obama, and Trump became God to some and the embodiment of the ‘white’ devil to others.
The painting started in 2018 before BLM or the Maga cult existed, so it is prophetic. I had updated it to include scrawled graffiti on the tiled walls, but I have since painted it out, preferring it to stand testimony to the hands of time. The fact that prison bars appear to separate Trump from Whitney is terrifyingly foreboding.
I Am Not an Object
A visual documentation of an explosive moment in time when hashtag activism peaked and the #metoo internet movement successfully fought against sexual male violence across the globe. Isa Conscia depicts the outspoken leader of the movement, Hollywood actress Rose McGowan, as a living statue of Liberty, the symbol of American hope and freedom. As Magritte’s ‘Treachery of images’ overturned representation itself, this painting overturns the object/subject sexual dichotomy. Its composition and the limited colour palette are in the style of a revolutionary propaganda poster symbolising an outdated war of ideologies that culminated in female sexual oppression. Rose is positioned in a Suprematist abstract world, where women are no longer victims of male sexual violence nor survivors but artists of truth. As Rose swings the flame for female liberty and justice, her aura shines bright, her seven chakras activated in full power, as human dignity and truth prevail.
Blind Kahlo and the Swine
Isa Conscia paints Salma Hayek as feminist iconic painter Frida Kahlo, who she played in the biopic ‘Frida,’ ironically produced by serial rapist and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, portrayed here as a decapitated pig. Representation is re-represented in this painting and presented again until it is deconstructed and reconstructed to expose the phallic power system that inscribes the female body materially, ideologically, and philosophically. Designed in the style of a religious renaissance church panel, it depicts Frida Kahlo as a modern-day saint in the form of Blind Justice. Frida is preserved alive in a simulated matrix to seek justice through the hashtag movement #metoo.
Pocket Money
Isa Conscia created this contemporary pop art piece in the style of a historical artifact from the junk shop in Orwell’s ‘1984’. The dollar note is antiquated and worthless in a society on the cusp of digital currency. The work’s saturated pastel colour palette, hand-painted in the style of old Disney cartoons, is designed to make it look like it had hung in an infant’s nursery. The old symbols of power and wealth are subverted to reveal the chilling truth of twentieth-century capitalist mass-industrialisation, which annihilates the human spirit. Mickey Mouse is depicted as a homeless addict begging for work, in juxtaposition to the Disney Palace Logo now transformed into Auschwitz, above which the horrifying sign, “Arbeit macht frei,” translates as ‘Work sets you free,” a lie sold to children from the cradle as a form of mind control. At the top of the note is the uncomfortable reminder that America’s wealth was built on the backs of the slave trade.
Self-Portrait: Androgeny
Isa Conscia’s Androgynous Self-Portrait is a bold exploration of identity, blending masculine and feminine traits with fluidity. Painted in vivid neon pink, black, and blue, the piece emanates a funky street vibe, enhanced by unconventional techniques using a palette knife and bubble wrap. The figure, with a striking beard and flowing blonde hair, defies racial and age definitions through its blue-toned skin. This daring and dynamic composition invites the viewer to reflect on the fluidity of identity and self-expression, challenging traditional perspectives of categorisation and celebrating individuality in a contemporary, urban context.
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
Isa Conscia investigates the intersection of art and technology through this whimsical, multi-layered mixed media, anamorphic digital collage to pose the question raised by Duchamp’s urinal: what defines art? AI-generated characters are replicated and reproduced until they form a new creative life; the pieces are then manipulated and assembled into a narrative digital collage. Subverted popular culture characters stare menacingly at the viewer, inciting them to turn away. The vaginal background signifies the birth and emergence of digital creativity, which is still in its infancy. Like popular culture, AI is often dismissed as low-brow and anti-intellectual, but also a threat to the ‘real’ artist; hence, the inclusion of the slogan associated with the poet Byron, ‘Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know,’ in graffiti. Immature paint drips, and doodles in bright fluorescent colours add to the whimsical and unorthodox work that challenges the boundary of art through space and time.
The Tea-Party
Isa Conscia envisions artists as the pioneers of a new technological frontier, crafting unique worlds in a digital space with new rules, unconstrained by the limitations of time and space. AI figures are re-replicated and re-positioned in a narrative, then painted in the ‘real’ world, with a dark, satirical repositioning of reality itself. This imaginative landscape is represented by a whimsical animal tea party surreally set in a barren desert in the rain. With a twist of irony, animals have turned the tables, communicating in text message shorthand as an emblem of a new technological language: they now consume humans. The pop-art aesthetic, reminiscent of Lichtenstein, underscores the symbiotic relationship between AI creativity and humans. Further, the work plays on the populist technological nihilist vision that man will soon be beholden to intelligent machines represented through anthropomorphism.
Heartless
This surreal pop art piece by Isa Conscia is a vibrant and provocative exploration of narcissistic love. Combining digital collage with spray paint, acrylic pen, and paint, the artwork depicts a grotesque yet captivating scene. At its centre, a human-fly hybrid offers a heart, swarming with flies, to a hot air balloon crafted from a human skull. The balloon floats against a neon, alien-like backdrop of pulsating pinks, greens, and yellows, evoking an otherworldly atmosphere. The work contrasts the grotesque imagery with vivid colours and meticulous detailing, creating a jarring yet fascinating visual narrative. Conscia’s piece challenges the viewer to reflect on themes of self-absorption, love, and humanity, depicting the transactional and decayed nature of narcissistic relationships. This dynamic and layered composition blurs the line between beauty and the macabre, making it both deeply unsettling and utterly mesmerizing.
Monkey Love Parade
Isa Conscia’s Monkey Love Parade is a vibrant and thought-provoking piece that subverts conventional narratives of conflict. Utilising spray paint, acrylic pen, and paint, this mixed media digital collage presents an army of mischievous monkeys marching through a dreamlike pink landscape. Hearts, rather than bullets, cascade from the sky, creating a whimsical and surreal world where love triumphs over hate. The playful use of pop art aesthetics and kitsch elements imbues the artwork with humour and irony, while its bold palette radiates energy and optimism. Through this poignant and unconventional depiction, Conscia envisions an antithetical reality to war, inviting viewers to reconsider societal notions of confrontation and unity. Monkey Love Parade both challenges and delights, making it a striking commentary on the power of love in a chaotic world.