POP! off

POP! off

For my final project, I created this piece, POP! off, I wanted to put a focus on pop culture and how I define myself as a fan. This is slightly similar to my midterm, but in a way, I am taking it through a different approach. In my midterm project, it showed how the main two things in myself shaped me today; basketball and comic books. I aspired to work hard and achieve greatness while fighting demons along the way. In this piece, I created a collage that generally show that I am a fan of a lot of things and no matter how I present myself on the outside, the inside is a cluster of fandom. What made me decide to do this piece was the ever growing community of fandom and the result from it.

Growing up, admiring things like comic books, super heroes, anime, and sci-fi films and novels were not really considered “cool.” They were considered nerdy and subjected to people teasing you to an extent. It made people conform or change their admiration to liking what everyone else liked. Finkelstein states it best, “Modern social relations emphasize the importance of appearances. In every social encounter we are directed to think about how to make a good impression and how to influence the opinion of others.” However, in the present time, the growth of “nerd culture” has grown significantly and I wanted to continue to challenge the “importance of appearances” that Finkelstein mentions. With my piece, I wanted the audience to see that we are all a fan something and that it is okay to express ourselves through whatever we like. 

The subject of my work is a Funk POP! Vinyl figure. As a fan of Action and Sci-Fi films such as, Star Wars, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, and ALL Super Hero films (except the Green Lantern), I used the J.J. Abrams vinyl figure to start this piece off. 

The process took while to conjure up. I wanted to be able to put the fandom into my head and onto the figure. I started off by painting the whole figure white so I can start with a fresh canvas. I began by playing the Star Wars theme song on my phone and on the side of the figure’s head, the hair is black and filled with stars. I used quite a few movie scores to help put this piece into action. In the middle of making this, my mind began to drift away and I ended up on my phone buying more Funko POPS! I bought a Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat Pop, thus resulting me in adding pieces of their work onto my figure as well. This continued for another couple of hours until I felt the completion of my piece. To completely finalize the piece, I incorporated a mystery box, designed by Funko that uses when they release their specialty products. I used it because I believe that we, as individuals are are our specialty products and your fandom is what makes us who we are.

POP! off

Funko x Futura 2000, Star Wars, 2019,2020

While creating this piece, I drew inspiration by a graffiti  artist, Leonard Hilton McGurr. He is also widely known as, Futura 2000. His work is very colorful with repetitive patterns. He has done a collaboration already with Funko for their Star Wars line. However, when comparing my work to his, I believe that my work is is a way, having a conversation with his. He took a piece of fandom (Star Wars) and told a story out of it, I took the director of the films and continued the conversation.