Jellowtown, model for 3D interaction video animation, made in collaboration w jklynk

Jellowtown (working title) will be a navigable, interactive 3D animation (created by jklynk) of a townscape derived from a series of paintings. This is the first model house in Jellowtown, based off ‘siren songs in the desert’. Once complete, the viewer will be able to navigate through the townscape using a video game controller, and in each house/scene, there will be elements activated by viewer presence (audio, swarming ducks, et).

In Jellowtown, characters spiced with undertones of apathy, joy, societal confusion & apocalyptic dread wander flooding & droughting landscapes littered with plastic water bottle trash, toppled statues, cigarette butts, & mythological warnings. These wobbly beings, skewed perspectives, and unstable structures gesture towards the current ecological crisis & the looming precipice of societal collapse.

Gelatinous entities and judgmental wiener dogs in tiny sweaters hover neatly between comically endearing and uncomfortably strange. At a moment when intentional joy & whimsy are arguably profound choices, the whole Jellowtown landscape teeters precariously between euphoria & chaos.

In these unstable environments, characters freely traverse between human & animal form. Such boundary transgressions refer to the monstrous ‘other’, but also speak to a porous & entangled boundary between human/non-human worlds. Through these exchanges, the work attempts to de-center the human perspective, highlight inter-species relations, reflect on human/non-human intersections as a lens through which to consider the broader ecological impacts of contemporary life, & to ultimately ask: wtf is even going on rn?

siren songs in the desert, 76x102cm / 30×40″ acrylic on cradled wood panel, 2025

Ancient Greek vases were originally used to depict mythological scenes filled with tales of morality & warning for contemporary society. ‘siren songs in the dessert’ references the ‘Siren Vase’, a vessel that depicts a key episode from Homer’s Odyssey. Sirens were mythical half-woman/half-bird creatures with beautiful singing voices. They used their magical song with its promise of knowledge of all things to lure sailors to their island. Once there, sailors would die, entranced to the end by the siren song.

‘siren songs in the dessert’ reimagines this Ancient Greek vase painting in a contemporary moment. The sirens in this vase confusedly wander a violently transformed landscape that is barren, desolate, & void of water. The alluring songs of contemporary society are staged, superficial, self-serving. Humans play dress up as unicorns, but it is dress-up. The fountain in the back feeds its own mouths, filling the basin with only spilled drops to share. The sirens sing a new & ridiculous song, to which we eagerly follow.