making space
university of pittsburgh
studio arts senior exhibition
november 2020
Nathan Barker-ENglish
I create work that is character and narrative driven---that references, either implicitly or explicitly, the existence of worlds other than our own. I like to create societies, individuals, and personalities that allow me to explore deeper social themes on my own terms. Implications of race, class, gender, and sexuality can be bent and broken in the medium of fantasy---and while the ability to explore real-life allegory is a fortunate side effect, the core of my interest is the simple fact that worlds with angels, werewolves, and magic-wielding Elven societies are much more entertaining to me than plain-old Planet Earth.
These digital illustrations are posters one might find in the empire of Corraine, a fantasy country of my own creation. The first illustration is a poster for a centennial festival in the of Thornvale. During the warmer months, The beginning of the season is marked by the Dogwood Festival, a three-day event of revelry and celebration of the arts. The second illustration is a poster for Lotus Spirits, modeled after advertisements created by Art Nouveau illustrator Alfonse Mucha. Lotus is an Elven drink that has since been mass-produced and marketed by Corraine as an expensive and exotic “Elven liquor”. This poster was designed with the intent to portray the way native foods can be appropriated and mass marketed, and further how native bodies and cultures are sexualized, simplified, and misrepresented for the sake of advertising an “exotic” product.
