Total Stunning Serious
Isabel Data
Artist Statement
“Camp is extravagant-play-for-serious ends”
– Karl Keller
I found this quote printed above a photograph of an amusement park hat designed by Philip Treacy, complete with a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round, within the CAMP: Notes on Fashion catalogue which I had purchased on a trip to New York in 2019. Little did I know this would be the last trip I would go on due to a global pandemic that has left many feeling a bit stir-crazy, but more than anything, feeling anxious. I have now grown well-acquainted with my coffee table catalogue (and the Sontagian essay it derives from), and it has shown me how to fall in love with all things campy, kitsch, and downright silly.
Total Stunning Serious originates from my love of kitsch and the necessity of escapism from the overwhelming stress of the lockdown, allowing me to paint fully from my subconscious as an attempt to offload the stresses that I couldn’t handle. As of now, the series has challenged how I consider composition, colour, mark-making, and scale in ways I had not initially set out to explore, and while still having fun. Inspired from a variety of reference sources (such as film, luxury fashion, social media, etc.), my works snap a metaphorical photograph of what’s on my mind at a given time and transform into a visual curation of my mind, which hopefully one day sneak into someone else’s psyche.
There was a time around the end of 2020 where either more people were becoming interested in antique, kitsch home decor, or I had maybe become fixated on recognizing these ceramic relics of the ’70s. Either way, once I noticed I never stopped. Born out of browsing online and second-hand stores, and spending a bit too much time on Youtube was Spit, the Furby-Barbie toy-of-nightmares, on his noble porcelain cat.
Licca Tarou the mucky Chihuahua 
Jippy the Sphynx 
Annie Cat
Award Recipient
- Landon Mackenzie Graduation Award for Visual Arts
