Camera Roll 2022; Oil on MDF wood; 6"x6" each; 2022-23
Camera Roll 2022 highlights how the instantaneity of iPhone photos and screenshots has changed the way we value images. Rows of identical selfies jab at the destructiveness bred from the convenience and ease which leads us to nitpick, striving for an arbitrary “perfect shot” which social media’s competitiveness and high standards demand. They are each painted quickly, robotically, in under one hour each regardless of context. Because of this time limit, they are equally rendered, equally “pixelated” with fast brush strokes. Across the many rows, their significance becomes flattened, important pictures of Jeng’s life treated the same as accidental screenshots. While the latter could be viewed as useless clutter, the paintings bring out their formal qualities and make us reconsider them. They make up a large part of this artwork, a large part of everyday visual culture, and reveal a lot about one’s identity.