Visual Arts |

The Waifu Series/ VIRTUAL EXHIBITION: DOOMGUY GETS AN HONORARY BFA

Darius Fultz-Zentner

ASURA: SQUARE ENIX

2021 OIL ON CANVAS

40″ X 60″

RUNO: SPINMASTER

2021 OIL ON CANVAS

36″ X 48″

The works in the Waifu series are derived from found internet images of men making posed self portrait photographs with their favorite female characters from anime or video-games (Known colloquially as a “waifu” a Japanese pronunciation of the word Wife) In the process of painting I have removed the Waifu from the composition, leaving only the strange stilted gesture from the original unedited photograph, leaving only the name of the character as well as her copyright holder as the title. With this I aim to create a sense of awkward discomfort in the viewer as they encounter these close to life size figures grasping for some imaginary comfort, elevating the pathetic gesture of genuine loneliness to a heroic scale. The series also questions the role of the companies creating and marketing IPs in such a way as to create these hyper-fans (or “whales” as they are known in the industry). The men in these photographs not only invite us into a strange intimate look at their own psyche, but also into their financial situations through the items on display in their homes, be in the dirty walls and broken door in Asura or the strange lack of furniture in Runo. In rendering these men in Oils, a medium used for kings and presidents, the works create a feeling of conflict in the viewer between whether to Exalt these men to kings, or dismiss them as pathetic and worthy of ridicule.

VIRTUAL EXHIBITION: DOOMGUY GETS AN HONORARY BFA

DOOM .WAD CONSISTING OF AN ACCURATE RECREATION OF THE SECOND FLOOR OF EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART AND DESIGN, MUSIC BY LUCAS FULTZ-ZENTNER

FUNCTIONAL SIX FOOT TALL CUSTOM BUILT ARCADE MACHINE

THE YEAR IS 2021. THE CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC HAS DECIMATED THE BUDGET OF EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY. IN RESPONSE THE SCHOOL HAS LOANED OUT ITS SECOND FLOOR TO THE LEGIONS OF HELL FOR THEIR SHOW, ONLY NOW THEY REFUSE TO LEAVE. YOU ARE DOOMGUY, AND YOUR TASK IS TO ELIMINATE THE DEMONIC SQUATTERS AND DEFEAT THE SINISTER CYBER-CHIP WILSON, CEO OF HELL. CAN YOU SAVE THE UNIVERSITY IN TIME FOR THE GRAD SHOW?

  • ACURATE-ISH REPRESENTATION OF ECUAD ITS LIKE YOU’RE REALLY THERE
  • DEMONS WITH BERETS (SO CHIC)
  • CLEAN UP THE HALLWAYS
  • SECRETS ABOUND
  • THE NEFARIOUS CYBER CHIP

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many art galleries moved to online only, similar to this show you are currently experiencing; however, it is my opinion that it is impossible to capture the majesty of live, physical art over a screen, especially if its your tiny phone from 2017. I would argue that online art shows such as this force the work to take on a different form entirely, closer to a video game than anything; and because of this, I have chosen to lean into this change and create art that is literally a video game. VIRTUAL EXHIBITION: DOOMGUY GETS AN HONORARY BFA uses the medium of a doom level (known as a WAD) to critique elements of ECUAD in a tongue in cheek fashion, rendering the university’s large blocky cement strewn hallways faithfully in a game from 1992 that is incapable of rendering a circle, let alone a real place. In its accuracy to the real building however, this WAD exposes the Designed-in-a-machine-ness of the architecture of the building.

CLICK THE LINK TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME – IF YOU ARE ONE WINDOWS THEN SIMPLY DRAG THE FILE MARKED “DRAG_THIS_FILE_INTO_GZDOOM.wad” INTO “GZDOOM” IF ON MAC THEN DRAG THE FILE MARKED AS “DOOM2.WAD” INTO https://wadcmd.com/ ! THE TEXTURES WILL BE FROM AN OPLDER VERSION AND ARE VERY CURES IF LOADING IT ON MAC, SO HEADS UP! REMEMBER TO TURN THE DIFFICULTY TO “HEY! NOT TOO ROUGH” OR RISK BEING MAULED BY DEMONS https://www.dropbox.com/s/m42tq9hz2ulkz12/VIRTUALEXHIBITION.zip?dl

-NOTE, STOP PLAYING AFTER THE FIRST LEVEL IS COMPLETE. THE REST OF THE GAME IS JUST REGULAR DOOM II

CUSTOM BUILT ARCADE CABINET

When showing this work in meatspace it is contained within a fully functional arcade machine meant to be played by the viewer. For these reference photos the cabinet was rendered unplayable, as COVID-19 protocols made it unsafe.

  • OUT OF ORDER
  • THE CONTROLS
  • DOOMGUY
  • CHIP WILSON
  • EMILY CARR
  • IMP
LOOK HOW MUCH FUN HE IS HAVING! THIS COULD BE YOU IF YOU PLAY THE GAME

—–PROCESS—–

PROCESS FOR ASURA: SQUARE ENIX

  • 1 hour study
  • underpainting
  • first layer
  • more layering, rendering the skin
  • nearly there

PROCESS FOR RUNO: SPINMASTER

  • 1 hour study
  • The source image was of too low quality to render a face, so I resorted to using an AI scaler to create a new one.
  • underpainting
  • blocking out the face
  • full detail
  • creating foreground

PROCESS FOR VIRTUAL EXHIBITION: DOOMGUY GETS AN HONORARY BFA

  • Gathering real textures from the university
  • Mapping out the university in ULTIMATE DOOM MAPPER
  • BETA version of the controls
  • cutting out the facad
  • it stands on its own
  • added more facad and internal electronics. testing with the Simpsons Arcade Game
  • Final Doom Version Featuring lighting
  • added Bezel Art
  • Spraypainting the Sides
  • Final Look of the Art on the sides

Darius Fultz-Zentner

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Darius Fultz-Zentner (@saxamuhphumpet) is a multidisciplinary artist from Mission BC who specialized in painting and stop motion animation; however he tends to switch media frequently and prides himself on learning new, often obscure skills. He had a strange time at Emily Carr, being in the initial rung of first years welcomed to the new campus. After a year in the chaos of a newly opened school, Darius developed adrenal carcinoma, a rare form of cancer when found in an 80 year old, but essentially unheard of in someone at the tender age of 23. After a semester taken off, and an adrenal gland taken out, Darius Returned to the university only for a pyromaniac to try to torch the school, resulting in even more time taken off. Once things had finally calmed down, Darius could finally focus on his academic and artistic journey. Of course thats exactly when a global pandemic shut down everything for his fourth year, as well as the tail end of his third. Somehow he was still able to squeeze an education out of this mess, and has a large list of increasingly obscure and niche skills, ranging from bronze statue casting to oil painting to Super Mario 64 ROM-Hacking.
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