gif generated though adobe animate. 2019.
"Introducing: Beauty Blender." poster. 24" x 48" 2019.
"Introducing: Beauty Blender" aims to tackle the concept of consumerist beauty through the idea of a magical blender. This blender is not only a housewife's best friend, but a means to become the beautiful woman society expects of you! With the accessibility of YouTube and other platforms alike, the makeup tutorials are a commonly viewed "how to" video that has an exponentially growing audience." In 2017 there were 88 billion beauty-related video views on YouTube, growing from “only” 55 billion in 2016, according to Statista. Every month YouTube registers more than 700 million views of beauty-related content." The idea of being "beautiful" is not a new concept, however as society progresses, so do the pressures to reach this metaphysical idea of beauty. By casting my model in a circa 1950/60's infomercial I am able to experiment with the expectations that society places on women. In this piece, my model places makeup on her face in an unorthodox manner, something that would make beauty influencers cringe. After placing the makeup on her face she throws the rest of the packaging into the blender. The model plays upon tropes of the common beauty influencer by shaking the product in-front of the camera and over dramatizing her acts of winking and blowing kisses to the viewer. After all the makeup is in the blender she continues to blend the "non-blendable" contents. She then opens the blender and pours the hullabaloo in the glass. With the snap of her fingers the "blended" makeup remnants turn into a delicious magical makeup smoothie. For dramatic effects she adds whipped cream to the top of the drink; and places a severed barbie head on top before consuming the shake. After ONLY 66 seconds my model's makeup is perfect, and she can go about her day being accepted by society and its non-viable expectations. This piece is not geared to shame those who wear or promote makeup, rather draw attention to the ever rapidly expanding beauty industry and the consumerism that is at its forefront.