Artists aren’t limited to industry standards like doctors and programmers. Joseph DeLappe and Micol Hebron are perfect examples of these types of artists. First of all, Joseph DeLappe is an American-born artist who now works in the UK. He got an associate in arts, a bachelor in graphic design, a masters in computers in art and design and a masters in fine arts. With his mass interest in computers, art and design, DeLappe decided to work on different types of art, more specifically intermedia art and game art. Consequently many of his projects take place in a game such as America Army’s official game or Grand Theft Auto V. DeLappe seems very free spirited, so his work explores topics that he believes deserves more attention such as wearing a mask during the pandemic, USA gun homicides visualized through GTA V citizens, and naming fallen soldiers in the US army’s official game. The second artist that is being explored today is Micol Hebron. Hebron is an associate professor of art at Chapman University and holds the director of the Situation Room resource space for the creative community. Her pages also include posts about politics and protests to things like Instagram’s no nipple policy. As a professor of art, she enjoys holding retreats, performances, exhibitions, and lectures. As an artist, she supports feminism through her artwork and strives to uplift women’s rights.
Beginning with DeLappe’s piece titled, Cardboard Gandhi, what stands out is that the work is definitely large for a piece made out of cardboard. The piece is a 20 some foot representation of Gandhi. Since it is made of wood, the statue is very jagged and seems very rough in texture from the cardboard. DeLappe didn’t paint the cardboard so it remains its very muted and dull brown colors. Additionally, there isn’t much detail in the statue; there’s only enough so that you can tell it is Gandhi. In one of his game works titled, Elegy: GTA USA Gun Homicides, the work has no form as it’s a conceptual idea visualized through GTA. His work shows dead bodies lined up all over the streets of the GTA V game in great, vivid detail. There is some pattern as the bodies are just lined up in a jagged manner to represent the random deaths of citizens. On the other hand, Micol Hebron’s pieces, such as Wall Whore, is a very brightly colored performance piece because the carpet and dress is a very bright gold color. The lines are satisfying because the straight edges of the wall and carpet she is sitting on have perfectly straight edges. The lighting of the piece is minimal and dim in order to highlight the person performing. Due to the dim lighting, the carpet gives off a shallow gleam and indicates a smooth, maybe even silky texture. With this sort of performance, it basically means you have to be there to witness the performance yourself.
But to understand the mind of an artist, you can’t simply be there to witness their performance or piece. You have to explore their ideas and inspirations for each piece. DeLappe’s piece, Cardboard Gandhi, was created as a representation of his avatar, MGandhi from second life. Looking further into his other work titled, Gandhi’s March in Second Life, we find that the reason he even had an avatar of Gandhi was so he could walk 240 miles as Gandhi did using a treadmill and Second Life as the game. DeLappe’s work with Gandhi isn’t simply meant to reiterate Gandhi’s message, but to show his audience the power of online gaming, performance art, and sculptures. Additionally, in his GTA V performance piece, he chooses to bring attention to the amount of homicides in the US through gaming performance art as well. Overall, these pieces prove DeLappe’s interest in intermedia and gaming performance art and his desire to bring issues he cares about into the foreground. Switching to Micol Hebron’s performance work titled, Wall Whore, we can deduct that her work is in support of women’s rights. For example, she has protested about allowing female nipples on Instagram in support of equal rights. From my perspective of her Wall Whore performance piece, the carpet coming down from below the performer represents her blood. The blood is representative of the women’s choices when it comes to their body. This isn’t even the only performance she has done in support of women’s rights which only shows how adamant she is about advocating for women’s rights.
To conclude, DeLappe’s works are about his interests in intermedia, gaming, and performance. Even with all of these interests, he tries to raise awareness for topics he believes are not talked about enough or are extremely important. Hebron on the other hand, has many works and performances in support of women’s rights. DeLappe’s work resonates with me the most. After doing something like it myself, I’ve come to enjoy intermedia art and I especially love to play video games. Combining all of these concepts together definitely works. Recently, I’ve done something very similar by creating intermedia art based off of my major: computer science; basically, I coded a program that notifies you to wear your mask when you leave your house. On the other hand, Hebron’s messages also relate to me in a sense. She is an advocate of female rights and wants to garner equal rights between man and woman. Although I’m not an “advocate” perse, I am a supporter of equal rights between man and woman and I want to support the BLM movement. In fact, I believe a great start to these movements would be to vote for a new president, which I have already done through mail in ballots.
