“Black Rose” by Hye Rim Lee

Title:

Black Rose

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Medium:

3D animation, 4’45” loop, stereo sound

Artist Statement:

My 3D animation deals with the world of virtual relationships using sophisticated computer programs to drive the viewer’s thoughts with dazzling 3D digital effects of glossy glass that optimize perspective, texture, and reflection. I explore instinct, fantasy and dream through mythological elements of identity, like a bunny named TOKI, a 3D character that has been my creation and my practice for some time. Through her, I explore cyber feminism and cyber trend between West and East in the challenge of mixing old mythology and new contemporary myth making. TOKI has evolved into the character of the Black Rose Queen who is created in a reflective paradise exploring ideas of isolation. TOKI captivates the viewer by balancing the desire for escapism with real desire and personifying this through virtual reality. Black Rose v1 depicts a dreamscape for a journey of TOKI’s shifting identity. TOKI floats and spins on the Flower Ring in the Mushroom Woods trying to escape her trauma from death and lost love and now searching for love and happiness in the diamond rain playing with the clouds of beads and marching pink bunnies. A floating, shiny, glossy glass TOKI becomes a Black Rose Queen in Lucid Dream, a never-ending, ever-moving infinite dream, staged in a playful, childlike narrative story alluding to fantasy and symbolism. TOKI is a shape shifter and Princess, Queen and Rose. Black Rose Queen is a birth statement for the glory of a Queen who is born in the process of transformation from escaping her tragedy to an infinite dream, but shines beautifully in floating dream and reality mix. Black Rose lures the viewer into a zone between the digital surreal and visceral reality.