“Mona IRL” is comprised of several elements, inspired and influenced by Kosuth’s “One and Three Chairs.” Mounted on the wall is vinyl lettering showing the Louvre’s image source code for the digital representation of the painting, then there is a vinyl outline of Mona in which all content has been removed and you’re left with the most basic symbol of the painting, a painted canvas with text describing the image, and finally a film of collected video from Instagram of people recording their experience with the painting. I’m using appropriation as a means to explore representation and objectification in virtual spaces – specifically I’m interested in how we interact with the digital representation of artworks and how this affects our interactions with the original object. I’m also exploring the breakdown of symbolism through my many acts of ekphrasis and recontextualization, while continuing to look at mediated distance and virtual spaces.
M. Shepherd Defenbaugh 