throughout history, people have created images to represent what they fear, desire, value, and believe in. religious icons, political symbols, cultural figures, brands, celebrities, and digital images may belong to very different systems, yet they share a common function: they give abstract ideas a visible form.
contemporary Icons begins with this enduring human need.
the project develops an evolving visual mythology around a recurring figure: a human body with a heart instead of a head. the image is not intended as a literal religious symbol. instead, it borrows the logic of iconography: a simple, recognisable form capable of carrying ideas larger than itself. the heart represents the emotional and instinctive side of human experience: desire, vulnerability, attachment, love, recognition, and the need to belong. placed where the head should be, it creates a tension between thought and impulse, rational judgement and emotional response, inner identity and external influence. the figure is deliberately open to interpretation. it can desire, believe, follow, consume, worship, or become an object of worship itself.
around this recurring icon, different visual worlds emerge. each body of work addresses a particular aspect of contemporary life and develops its own visual language. digital Jungles, the first major series, turns towards social media, global visual culture, algorithms, and the tension between individuality and increasing sameness. other works move towards questions of desire, morality, value, pleasure, belief, and the objects to which people give symbolic power.
the project is not about religion in a literal sense but about the human tendency to create systems of meaning and devotion.
...
we continue to gather around images. we follow symbols. we imitate models of success. we seek recognition. we build identities around things that promise belonging, love, status, certainty, or purpose. contemporary mythology does not necessarily require gods. it can be built from images, technologies, trends, money, celebrities, cultural ideals, or the image of the self. the project also looks at the paradox of contemporary global culture. we have access to more visual diversity than ever before, yet the same aesthetics, trends, behaviours, and desires travel rapidly across borders. Individuality is constantly encouraged, while the visual language through which we express it becomes increasingly shared.
technology intensifies this condition. algorithms influence what we see and desire, while artificial intelligence increasingly participates in the production of images and information. this raises a broader question about human agency: what happens when we begin to outsource not only labour, but judgement, taste, attention, and thought?
contemporary Icons does not offer a fixed answer. it observes the systems surrounding us and asks what they are doing to the people living inside them.
the visual language of the project remains open. colour, composition, scale, density, figuration, and technique can change from one work to another. the recurring icon provides continuity, while each new work becomes an opportunity to test how far the same symbol can move and what it can become in a different visual world.
the paintings are made entirely by hand. visible brushwork, uneven edges, imperfect lines, and other traces of the process remain part of the final image. these marks preserve the time, physical attention, judgement, and human thought invested in making the work.
contemporary Icons ultimately asks a question that remains open: what do we choose to believe in when the objects of belief are constantly changing?
contemporary Icons begins with this enduring human need.
the project develops an evolving visual mythology around a recurring figure: a human body with a heart instead of a head. the image is not intended as a literal religious symbol. instead, it borrows the logic of iconography: a simple, recognisable form capable of carrying ideas larger than itself. the heart represents the emotional and instinctive side of human experience: desire, vulnerability, attachment, love, recognition, and the need to belong. placed where the head should be, it creates a tension between thought and impulse, rational judgement and emotional response, inner identity and external influence. the figure is deliberately open to interpretation. it can desire, believe, follow, consume, worship, or become an object of worship itself.
around this recurring icon, different visual worlds emerge. each body of work addresses a particular aspect of contemporary life and develops its own visual language. digital Jungles, the first major series, turns towards social media, global visual culture, algorithms, and the tension between individuality and increasing sameness. other works move towards questions of desire, morality, value, pleasure, belief, and the objects to which people give symbolic power.
the project is not about religion in a literal sense but about the human tendency to create systems of meaning and devotion.
...
we continue to gather around images. we follow symbols. we imitate models of success. we seek recognition. we build identities around things that promise belonging, love, status, certainty, or purpose. contemporary mythology does not necessarily require gods. it can be built from images, technologies, trends, money, celebrities, cultural ideals, or the image of the self. the project also looks at the paradox of contemporary global culture. we have access to more visual diversity than ever before, yet the same aesthetics, trends, behaviours, and desires travel rapidly across borders. Individuality is constantly encouraged, while the visual language through which we express it becomes increasingly shared.
technology intensifies this condition. algorithms influence what we see and desire, while artificial intelligence increasingly participates in the production of images and information. this raises a broader question about human agency: what happens when we begin to outsource not only labour, but judgement, taste, attention, and thought?
contemporary Icons does not offer a fixed answer. it observes the systems surrounding us and asks what they are doing to the people living inside them.
the visual language of the project remains open. colour, composition, scale, density, figuration, and technique can change from one work to another. the recurring icon provides continuity, while each new work becomes an opportunity to test how far the same symbol can move and what it can become in a different visual world.
the paintings are made entirely by hand. visible brushwork, uneven edges, imperfect lines, and other traces of the process remain part of the final image. these marks preserve the time, physical attention, judgement, and human thought invested in making the work.
contemporary Icons ultimately asks a question that remains open: what do we choose to believe in when the objects of belief are constantly changing?
first chapter of contemporary icons: digital jungles
my digital self
social available
forgotten password
lost in the feed
private profile
fitting into trends
people follow
digital twins