CYBERPUNK KAWAII FANTASY 2019

CYBERPUNK The word cyberpunk was coined by writer Bruce Bethke, who wrote a story with that title in 1980. He created the term by combining "cybernetics," the science of replacing human functions with computerized ones, and "punk," the raucous music and nihilistic sensibility that became a youth culture in the 1970s and '80s. Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on the society of the proverbial "high tech and low life"; featuring advanced technological and scientific achievements, such as information technology and cybernetics, juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order. Much of cyberpunk is rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of the '60s and '70s, when writers like Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, John Brunner, J.G. Ballard, Philip Jose Farmer and Harlan Ellison examined the imapct of drug culture, technology, and the sexual revolution while avoiding the utopian tendencies of earlier science fiction. Common motifs of cyberpunk include, Posthumanism/Dehumanization, Industrialism / Corporatocracy, Alienation / Isolation, Rebellion / Revenge, Philosophical / Psychological Allegories
"Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, a ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body."

KAWAII(かわいい, pronounced [kaɰaiꜜi]; "lovable", "cute", or "adorable") is the culture of cuteness in Japan. It can refer to items, humans and nonhumans that are charming, vulnerable, shy, and childlike. The original definition of Kawaii came from Lady Murasaki's 11th century novel The Tale of Gengi, where it referred to pitiable qualities during the Shogunate period under the ideology of neo-Confucianism.

FANTASY By definition, fantasy is a genre that typically features the use of magic or other supernatural phenomena in the plot, setting, or theme. Magical or mythological creatures often feature, as well as races other than humans, such as elves, demons, trolls, mermaids, succubi, dwarves, dragons, fairies, gnomes, ogres, unicorns or goblins.

This series can be split into two more components, 1) inspiration from my travels to Tokyo a few years and 2) also inspired by my butterfly panels that are mounted permanently on the banks of the Petitcodiac River in Moncton, Canada and reference a 1995 outdoor art project “Night Glow Highway”. I conducted research in the New Brunswick Museum insect collection for this series with a continuation of the moth + butterfly motif along with a new exploration of new materials and neon pastel cyber punk funk.