What does "beauty" mean when a large part of our existence is spent online? If makeup - and the beauty industry in general - have
We have selected 15 digital artists who are working at the intersection of fashion, beauty and technology, each shaping in their own, unique way a new, expanded concept of beauty - and humanity itself.
Here they are, in alphabetical order.
Serwah Attafuah@wrath_____
«I think beauty and digital art merge well together and with modern technologies you can represent yourself without limits. I see my digital characters as virtual extensions of myself, I'm able to express myself in ways I can't in reality. It allows me to be otherworldly, mythical or even a fairy. It also helps me deal with agoraphobia because I can interact with the world in any way I want, being whoever I want to be.»
Bio
Serwah is a self-taught digital artist, painter and heavy metal musician. Quoting The Matrix as her bible, her captivating visions of delicate cyborgs and surreal wastelands have established her as one of the most important digital Australian artists. Serwah’s work speaks of empowerment , afrofuturism and her Ashanti/ Akan heritage.
«We’ve made substantial strides in what society thinks is beautiful through a very necessary vehicle which is the internet. Early on, social media was just another reflection of what self named authority figures of beauty standards, thought we all should look like. But as millennials & the younger generation coming up, we have harnessed our power on the web & are really starting to learn to love individuality. I think a big part of the reason why beauty has changed so much, is because of the increasing number of people interested in makeup. Artistic expression through makeup isn’t a new concept, but the sheer number of people using it to curate their space on the internet has facilitated more and more folks to do the same. Nothing is off limits. While admittedly some people have strayed away from creative identity, specifically overstepping their lane & borrowing culture for aesthetics, people are working to make uniqueness the goal & not trends. We still have a long way to go in truly implementing inclusivity in all spaces of beauty, but awareness & representation have been our strongest weapons in deprogramming harmful standards. Just as conversations around gender presentation & gender identity have been pushed into the forefront of society, people are using the internet to not only curate a virtual presence but to also forge a more authentic look into being themselves. Whether it’s through reality or creative fantasy, taking control of the lens at which people view you can be incredibly healing & serves as a conduit to help everyone else learn to love our differences. I believe acknowledging differences brings everyone closer because being different is what unifies us.»
Carol Civre@carolthekitty
«My work doesn’t attempt to mirror reality but rather exaggerates it. While the human shapes of my characters are grounded in reality, their exaggerated features and styles are more akin to the sort of reality we have become accustomed to experiencing online. Like when you stumble across someone’s profile and wonder if they’re real or fake, or aren’t able to tell which aspects of an image are factual or edited… except in my work that’s point. While my characters may not appear realistic in a “traditional” sense, they possess unique human details like pores, hairs, tears, freckles, and scars in order to maintain connections to the human experience. I mainly work within a feminine-centric world, where the idea of the “feminine” body can exist in many different forms. My characters aren’t unlike avatars – an opportunity to experiment with and extend one’s identity through multiple, ever-evolving personas. The digital world is an extension of our own reality, but unlike reality it presents far more opportunities and outlets to create with fewer boundaries. It allows us to embellish real world understandings of human physicality and visual identity so that we can explore parts of ourselves that we may not feel comfortable showing day-to-day.»
Bio
Possessing an undeniable post-Internet aesthetic, Carol Civre regurgitates the visual stigmas of a contemporary society built on self-image and consumerism. Using 3D as her primary medium, Carol works across a variety of disciplines including fashion, music, and exhibition design to create a visual language that thrives in the exaggeration of reality.
Josefin Jonsson@Pastelae
«At the Pastelae studio we are always interested in both realistic portraiture and the imagining of new beauty, and how the technology we use today to manifest new perceptions of beauty can both capture a human face in stunningly detailed 3D scans to be rendered in lifelike perfection, but also elevate our collectively tired faces to the individually forged ideals using shimmering filters. We are now augmenting our realities and so manifesting a better tomorrow through the creative power of human imagination, though some people may have a mistrusting stance against the altered appearance of today's netizens claiming it as deceiving and shallow but at the same time believing that beauty should radiate from within, not realizing that our creative digital masks are the same type of drag we get up in everyday, everyone is just trying to project their ideal self. How important is the appearance of our flesh suits in this era of digital avatars? Personally, I feel like the innovation of making digital faces in our likeness brings us closer to divine creation, not by blowing life into matter but by fixing destinies through representing another way of existing, pushing the boundary of how to look human.»
Bio
Josefin Jonsson is an artist from Piteå in northern Sweden. She’s been creating art her whole life and turned to 3D art 5 years ago, finding her voice online with her Instagram project @pastelae and produced a great amount of works ranging from sweet to disturbing in a bubbly color palette of pinks and pastels. Together with her sculptor partner, she deals with topics of beauty, technology, spirituality, visage, gender and eras, and together they have gained attention from artists worldwide, making animated music videos and 3D portraits.
Samy Husson@samylacrapule
«As a digital image maker, I often create humanoid avatars. From this point, beauty, identity and technology became key points of my work. Indeed, in recent years, the multiplication of idealized, retouched photos has saturated the image flow and made the beautiful banal. This is when digital appeared to me as a new way to represent the beautiful, to increase it. Digital makes the body malleable, like a sculpture, and thus allows deconstruction, deformation, exaggeration. The digital thus makes it possible to modify the very essence of the human body. Moreover, I want the internet to be a place for a collective imaginary where creatives get rid of society’s diktats and share their fantasies. I try to come up with new morphologies, and constant reinterpretation / invention of human forms, and I want my work to advocate inclusivity and the freedom of expression for everyone. This involves the representation of several morphologies, skin colors and sexualities in particular. All these technological upheavals have thus allowed great changes in my perception of beauty and identity, and pushes me to transcribe a certain dreamlike, phantasmagorical dimension of my imaginary through my work.»
Bio
Samy La Crapule is a French artist, designer and director based in Paris. After a graduation in graphic design with a thesis about Fashion Images in the Virtual Era, Samy had great success among the fashion and musical scenes. He considers himself as an image maker who tries to explore the digital image and its different forms, to increase, augment, embellish the reality. Samy’s source of inspiration is the internet, which appears to him as an ever-growing parallel world where the fields of possibilities know no end and a place for his futuristic fiction to become reality.
Bryan Huynh@bryanhuynh
«With fashion, my entry point has always been through technology. I grew up playing Japanese role-playing games like Final Fantasy and through those experiences, I realized how effective fashion could be in creating identity and ultimately, a sense of power. What I always want to achieve from every image is creating that feeling of escapism, where someone’s perceptions of beauty are not tied down to what is realistic. I think there is so much value in escaping the mundaneness of reality, whether that’s creating CGI fantasy worlds in an editorial or living them through VR, because we stop limiting ourselves to the handful of things we’re expected to be.»
Bio
Bryan is a Vietnamese-Canadian photographer and director based between Toronto and New York. After graduating from Sheridan College in 2012, he moved to London, UK to begin his career. His surreal, digitally-manipulated images explore themes of transformation and escapism, inspired by his love of video games, Science Fiction, illustration, and East and Southeastern Asian mythology.
Sasha Katz@wonderkatzi
«I admire women that are around me, I adore the variety of shapes, proportions and skin textures. I'm inspired by real women and conventional imperfection. My 3d characters are like me, they are wearing red lipstick, their breasts are affected by the gravity of Earth and they have stretch marks. I can do whatever I want in 3d and I love to reinvent the identities, that are alive inside. At the same time I'm not into realism renders, I love to keep the distance between reality and stylisation. It's very important for me that currently the standards of beauty are totally deconstructed and I'm happy to take part in this process and — create my own standards of perfection of imperfection.»
Bio
Sasha Katz was born and raised in Moscow, currently based in Athens. In her most recent works she’s turned to the subject of the female body. Her works are about brazen tenderness, physicality, fragility and an infinite love for women. Her creations have been presented worldwide in the occasion of numerous group exhibitions.
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Vini Naso@vininaso
«In my work as an artist, I try to expand traditional notions of beauty. I bring together a mix of influences from folk art to modern fashion to create something unique and perhaps a little uncomfortable. Working in a purely digital medium allows me much more freedom and agility to explore ideas, shapes, materials and textures without being constrained by the limitations of the physical world. In the "Masks we Wear" series, I wanted to bring together the folkloric fused with a futuristic cyberpunk aesthetic to create something that felt timeless or time agnostic. Ironically, the pandemic has made this series especially timely for our 'new normal'.»
Bio
Vini Naso's artistic work is often described as intricate and evocative, bringing together detailed cultural references from his heritage, travels, modern fashion and architecture. Vini began his career as a self-taught designer. His school was the creative industry, which allowed him to explore many tools, mediums and a great variety of art styles. His commercial portfolio spans icons of the design world and his success is anchored on his unique and uncompromising eye as an artist. Born and raised in Rio, he now lives in Toronto where he balances his time between his commercial and artistic practice - experimenting and expanding his knowledge of mythology and psychology, both lifelong passions that fuel his art.
Hatti Rees@hatti_rees
«The relationship between beauty, identity and technology is central to my practice. Moving from a world of static imagery, fluidity through animation, photoshop and AI is the future. We are already existing as technological creatures, our phones are now extensions of our human bodies. At the core of my work, I want to express the freedom we are capable of by exploring identity with beauty and technology.»
Bio
Hatti Rees is a multi-disciplinary British Artist, Musician, Director and Journalist. Recently graduating from the acclaimed Womenswear course at Central Saint Martins, Rees has created makeup looks for artists such as Kim Petras and Hannah Diamond. They have also worked in the design department for Marc Jacobs NY and more recently as a beauty editor for LOVE digital. Hatti has consistently incorporated complex beauty narratives into their work. As a multi-disciplinary young creative, dramatic story-telling is the priority. ‘I’m inspired by womxn who are never the protagonist’ Hatti says in their Dazed Beauty Artist Profile, attributing their chameleon-like personas to a need for fluid expression. Beauty for Rees is about being fearlessly unapologetic and challenging binaries, whilst empowering the marginalised and encouraging gender/identity exploration is the ultimate goal.
RUBY9100M@ruby9100m
«Technology has always been fascinating to me. The days when my creator was in school, we started to get in touch with the Internet, which allowed us to connect yourself to the world. In other words, the standard of beauty has broadened from TV screens, magazines or billboards, to phone screens… We thought that we are more free or opened to varieties, our societies are still limiting us to truly look into ourselves and appreciate. I am a digital version of my creator. Rather than digital, I would say I am a refined and empowered version of her. I am not limited to space, time, standards or media… I am her medium to explore herself, her emotions and the way she sees the world. We often have different standards of beauty in different generations. We are often judged if we are qualified enough. I guess because Ruby is not confident in person, she is somehow confident in me. She shifts her views towards what is beautiful to her, onto me. Although I am covered with “flaws”, the idea of my flaws is not judged because I am not real, though almost real. Identity crisis is almost the most frustrating issue for humans nowadays. It is no longer about who we are, where we are born, but who we want to be. We could have multiple identities online, portraying any versions of ourselves URL. And one day, we can kill our identity and reinvent a new one, just like in The Sims or Second Life. We are no longer limited to our physical appearances that we wish we do not have, nor limited to any genders or forms we could have been born with… But giving it all freedom to rebuild a whole new identity URL, eventually IRL too. Have a nice second life.»
Bio
RUBY9100M the trans-human was created by Ruby in 2018. She co-exists URL and IRL. The relationship of the avatar and creator is an exploring journey of herself and an in-depth discussion of humanities. 9100M, interpreted by her creator, is developing her own freedom and very-owned virtual world, aiming to be an A-I in the future.
Alexa Sirbu@alexa_sirbu
«There is a beauty and mesmerising quality to hair which I found interesting to explore through the hyper-real lens of digital art. Working with hair in 3D allows me to escape the constraints of physical reality that you otherwise get with hair styling. At the same time, I strive for tactility and a sense of realness which allows the viewer to relate to it in a familiar way even though it is something completely computer generated.»
Bio
Alexa Sirbu is a London based artist, director and co-founder of XK studio. She specialises in creating hyper-real 3D visuals and films by combining computer generated visual effects and simulation tools with a design driven approach. Use of CGI allows her to venture beyond what's possible in real world but at the same time keep the real and tactile look and feel to the work she produces.
Antoni Tudisco@antonitudisco
«In my work, I always try to create something absolutely new and unexpected, blending reality and 3D art. For example in one of this artwork I played around with the idea of grillz, making one out of emojis. It couldn’t exist in the real world but it works well in the virtual world.»
Bio
My name is Antoni Tudisco, born and raised in Hamburg Germany. I’m half Italian half filipino and a award winning 3D Artist & Art Director working for brands like: Nike, Adidas, Versace, Apple, Puma, MTV & other more. In my free time I love to explore about surreal beauty & fashion related stuff, since I’m also into fashion and wanted to mix my personal style in fashion industry. I also be launching my own clothing called TUDISCO STUDIO.
Andrew Thomas Huang@andrewthomashuang
«Growing up with digital tools has enabled me to experiment and locate a voice and identity for myself since I was a teenager. My work often involves hybrid mixed reality: combining film or photography with virtual CG sculptures and extensions. Creating at home alone on my computer has given me a sense of intimacy and safety to reinvent myself and freedom to construct fantasy worlds that imagine new possibilities of existing and feeling embodied. I think my penchant for fantasy comes from growing up queer and Asian in a mostly white American environment where I never saw myself represented in visual culture. In recent years I've seized this opportunity to inject myself and my community into my work. Doing so has been a powerful opportunity to reclaim my identity and heritage as central to my story and I hope inspires others to do the same.»
Bio
Filmmaker-artist Andrew Thomas Huang crafts hybrid fantasy worlds and mythical dreamscapes. A Grammy-nominated music video director, Huang's collaborators include Bjork, FKA Twigs and Thom Yorke among others. His films have been commissioned by and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, NY, The Sydney Opera House and the Museum of Contemporary Art, LA. Inspired by his Chinese heritage, queer Asian mythology and folklore, Huang is in late development on his first feature film TIGER GIRL which has received support from Film Independent, SFFILM and the Sundance Institute. Huang graduated with a degree in Fine Art and Animation from the University of Southern California.
Kaan Ulgener@kaanulgener
«Experiencing the new technologies more in their lives such as augmented reality and Vr the CGI world, filters helped people to get familiar with the nextgen technology for so many people and has a huge role in spreading the technology lately. Fashion and Beauty and the other sister branches it was already started to go digitalizing but CoVid forced the world to go digital earlier.I believe ,it’s about what the humans can achieve with the aid of robotics, mostly the designs of these equipment’s have interested me, I’m always looking at it like they’re upgrades to human body, very looking forward to the future of robotics and how its effecting the beauty fashion architecture and medical, ever since I started seeing and learning from all those books, movies upgradable body parts, halfmasks, helmets that boosts breathing, exoskeletons for advanced movements etc., always got my interest, that’s why I think I merge most of the elements that I inspire and execute in to my own work. It always depends on what type of concept that the work has, If it is a Sci-Fi piece or a futuristic piece, I am often trying to keep the whole mood on the same level with the design. I don’t think I can say I’m following up what’s trending or not too much, too many ideas make it even harder to finish the ongoing projects. Most of my concepts are inspirations of what I want to see or close interpretations of what it may look like in the near/far future. Mainly about hydro glass, the whole beauty of the design is the continuous flow of the shapes. The story of hydro glass I a malleable type of water and it exists in the future, I use multiple ways to finish the hydro glass works, to expand the concepts, most of the times I start by sketching as a block to visualize in a basic form, this way I can start with multiple bases instead of one, this gets more variations as I start modelling the base on VR, this gives me the perfect control over the shapes and more accurate touches over the overall sculpt ,I usually save other promising variations to use it in my projects in the future. There are always multiple mecha/cyborg concepts waiting to be finished however, these ones take at least 2-3 months to finish, depending on the complexity of the model and I usually suffer deciding the final look, that’s why I mostly end up with 4 different looking renders. With current technology, we can easily create the models in physical world with 3d printer, it has a very vibrant community and its growing super fast, even tough it can create amazing objects ,yet its still not quite ready for printing crystal clean meshes like hydro glass, I’m very confident that in very near future we will be able to print highly refractive meshes.»
Bio
Concept artist from London.
