Sin-thetic

"In order to know virtue, we must first
acquaint ourselves with vice"
Marquis de Sade

Bound Geisha, 2009

 

The fetish aesthetic, and the world it represents, celebrate the bold, the stylish, and the extreme...but most of all creativity, freedom and individuality of expression. Theatricality of styling combines with the imagination and dedication of those who immerse themselves in this underground and little-understood subculture. And while the aesthetic is found increasingly infiltrating the mainstream, the lifestyle from which it emerges remains firmly rooted in the realm of the outsider.

Ballerina, 2009

The Sinthetic series occupies a space between these semi-dichotomous approaches. Coming from within the subculture, the subjects of these images are those for whom this is a facet of personality and aspect of self-expression. These images represent not artistic artifice, but an authentic aesthetic...twisted and manipulated to further emphasise the stylistic and existential inspirations both of those involved and of the aesthetic itself.

Tightlaced, 2009

The fetishistic gaze is distilled here into its most concentrated and sophisticated forms...iconography which is at once familiar and alien encapsulated in dramatic high contrast, graphical enhancement and innovative composition. Convention is rejected in favour of a 'libertine' approach which mirrors the culture itself, the images simultaneous flights of fantasy and documents of reality, the extreme empowered and the extraordinary embraced...in the Sinthetic world. 

The Chrysanthemum Tattoo, 2008