Selfie II Painting

SELFIE After my last exhibition called Vorágine (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. April to May, 2015), I’ve kept developing the concept of nowadays communication, focusing on the selfie as an image who dismembers communication itself in an over-informed world. It’s a symbol of plot emptyness and emotional distance, a vehicle which amplifies those muscled egos with very little to say. The selfie is not a bad thing itself but a superficiality icon. It can also be considered a great showcase of the human figure as it used to be mythology or sports in the past. It’s the perfect excuse for the body to become a stroke and the flesh a brushstroke. Although it’s true that global communication today is as easy as drop a line in a whatsapp, a tweet or a Facebook post, it’s also true that the main victim of such talkative frenzy is the message content. We say a lot, but do we say it properly? Is the information we spread verified? Do we really think about what we share? Do we care at all? We’re starting now using the tools that social media brings as if we were learning a new language. Maybe that’s why we fail so often with forms. Anyway, only time will tell if we succedeed or failed as individuals or members of our specific society after that process of social media bombing. Meanwhile, the main characters of my paintings show themselves with no shame, with their smartphones as members of their bodies, and they remain that way: beautiful but empty of communication. Cristina Martel. January 2016.