Walled Kingdom
Art Series, Visual + Concept
Visual:
Tribute to the dynamic aesthetic of romanticized modern cityscapes, this art series features a dramatic, one-point perspective street scene that embraces the artist's contemporary interpretation of futurism with mixed references to cubism, impressionism, abstract expressionism, cyberpunk, solar punk (atmospheres and philosophies), and brutalism structures, bouncing between a vibrant utopia and/or a highly stylized dystopia adhering more to a post-apocalyptic chaos elements composed into a full picture.
Concept:
“Walled Kingdom” is a social commentary art series with one goal: to encourage us to rethink utopia, shifting the focus from a “perfect world” to a unique disposition. It borrows from cyberpunk and solarpunk aesthetics, including their political details. This project is a literary proposal to compose a fresh, metaphorical perspective. Walled Kingdom is a conceptual deconstruction and poetic declaration that utopia is not a place, not a feeling, but a revolutionary state of mind. The “utopian disposition” is the human capacity to hope in a “delusional” way—radical optimism that is intelligent, intentional, and psychologically controlled, not blind or aimless.
Therefore, utopia is not about the creation of a “perfect world” but the strong desire to establish communities constantly in progress, where perfection is not the goal, but for things to continuously improve, not a “perfect world” but a “better future”, internal not external.
The concept is parallel to our humanity, as we humans will never be perfect, for it implies completion and no room for improvement. Instead, we are always changing and improving. We are all walled kingdoms mingling, waiting to bloom into utopias—plural.
Think “2020” and the major historical events that followed. Why is it easier for us now to imagine a dystopian future? Is a “better” future truly out of reach? Do we simply just accept our current trajectory to an “apocalyptic future”? Many of us were overtaken by confusion, anxiety, rage, and cynicism, even disgust).
Walled Kingdom features hope in its defiant and ferocious form. It is not just an emotion. It is a habitual, sincere, and transcending attitude of the heart—to “delusionally” choose remain hopeful despite watching the world crumble, to remain kind to one another in the wake of divisive messaging, to remain soft-hearted after overcoming these past years of grief, chaos, uncertainty, isolation or all at once.
