810

“Lure of the Skin” is one of my commodity series artworks. I am seduced by beautiful consumer products whose properties attract the eye and invite the mind to contemplate objects of desire through aesthetic values of balance, harmony, symmetry, and grace, that raise the consciousness and elevate the soul to recognize something which holds the capacity to move us wordlessly. However, I reject the banal innocence of pretty items by infusing beauty with foreboding threats in a social and psychological context. The social aspects of commodity culture have always been an undeniable factor impacting consumers. Now more than ever, with the omni presence of social media, online shopping, and the relative democratization of luxury, products are valued beyond their usability and exchangeability, and they become symbols of success, status, identity and power. Merchandise is the thread woven into the fabric of not only social, economic, and class distinctions, but also sexism and psycho-socialism. My work questions conventional beauty in the

Siana Smith

siana@jsgwis.net