SeeThrough

Description

"Now that I've got your attention, economy" is an absurdist commentary on the current state of digital systems, algorithmic influence, and human behavior. It’s a deliberate gesture meant to “hack” the feed—playing into the mechanics of virality where nonsense garners attention and shock becomes currency. By embracing the ridiculous, the work exposes the logic of platforms that reward engagement over substance. It holds a mirror to a system where value is often measured not by meaning, but by reaction. The phrase itself is both bait and critique—drawing viewers in with a jarring image, only to confront them with a reflection on how easily attention is manipulated. This piece is not just about the spectacle—it’s about what lies beneath it. It questions what we’ve come to accept as normal in a landscape driven by algorithms, outrage, and the commodification of attention.

Process

Honestly, I didn’t set out to make this—it felt more like a response to pressure. In today’s social media landscape, visibility often demands performance. It’s like living inside a never-ending episode of reality TV, where we’re all the contestants, editors, and audience at once. What was once about connection has morphed into a scramble for attention. The algorithm doesn’t reward nuance; it rewards noise. The loudest, strangest, or most provocative content floats to the top. This piece is me leaning into that reality—mimicking what the algorithm favors while subverting it. It’s both protest and participation, a way of speaking the machine’s language in order to slip in something more meaningful. It started as a motion piece for an Instagram reel, built around a 9:16 frame designed to bait attention with cats and sexual cues—an aesthetic trap for both viewer and platform. But in the end, the still version landed just as hard. That’s rare in a digital space so dominated by motion and immediacy. This work lives in that contradiction: exploiting the rules while critiquing them. It's a reflection of the strange loop we’re all caught in—where the desire to be seen means becoming part of the spectacle.

Tools

This image was one of the most challenging pieces I've created, primarily due to the nature of its concept and the limitations of AI censorship. It began as a sketch—an idea rooted in my physical, painted artworks and textures. I then curated a custom dataset based on those works, feeding it into an algorithm that could blend and reimagine the core of my visual language. What emerged was a character and environment born from decay, distortion, and digital reinterpretation. A key part of my process involves using inpainting and outpainting techniques, deliberately introducing randomness to let the machine "fail." I find beauty in these errors—they often spark unexpected, surreal moments. Take, for example, the cat’s distorted tiger-like paw. These elements weren’t entirely planned but became essential to the narrative and mood of the piece. This particular image took more time to realize than any other work I’ve done. I had a very specific concept in mind and specific details that I iterated on over and over. I also embed easter eggs and hidden meanings into the details—things that might not be obvious at first glance but reveal themselves on closer inspection. It's part of my ongoing exploration of the line between the seen and the suggested. Finally, the 9:16 frame was added intentionally in post-production. It draws a line between the “bait” and the “trap”—a visual metaphor for perception versus reality, illusion versus truth.