Shrine Prints

 Shrine series

Taking an anthropological or even mockumentary approach, these interdisciplinary works explore the relationship between authenticity and authority. The combination of these strange yet familiar artifacts and their photographic depiction through large-scale lenticular prints dazzle the viewer with their high contrast and disorienting effect. The prints simultaneously bring these questionably fictional objects and figures to life with their 3D and animation qualities while the imagery makes connections between religious and secular symbols of status. By investigating the sacred & the profane as interpreted through objects, ornamentation, and ritual, I examine here excess and indulgence in relation to a broad sense of spirituality. This work takes on a host of Western issues by creating an artificial, exaggerated caricature of our contemporary globalized world, functioning in a similar manner to a funhouse mirror. In this world, the narcissist gazes into the mirror only to be shown a grotesque spectacle in return.

Note: To create my custom flip and lenticular prints, I photograph my assemblage sculptures and installations as series of consecutive images using a slide rail mounted to my tripod. In a post process, I digitally package these files to be merged together in the final lenticular print. These lenticular prints have a thick plastic coating on them, called a “lens”, that creates animated or 3D effects whenever the viewer passes by. The images below are the photographic digital files, not images of the final lenticular prints. Examples of their final print form can be seen in the last image, which shows two works on display at The Other Art Fair in 2019.

Digital animation demonstrating the 3D holographic effects of the lenticular print. Video by Valery Jung Estabrook.