COLLECTION
Metaflesh
Critique of the aesthetic hegemony and gender-based oppressive narratives.
The Metaflesh collection delves into the heart of aesthetic imposition, where the female body becomes the testing ground for hegemonic values. Comprising seventeen pieces, predominantly in a square format, this digital graphic art series is a forensic exploration of the magazine image: the apex of prefabricated perfection and the source of oppressive narratives.
Macaco+ utilizes the digital medium to deconstruct and sabotage these images, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of the female body before the tyranny of aesthetic ideals. The choice of the feminine gender as the focus is not arbitrary: it is in the perception and representation of the feminine that the risk of oppressive narratives—those that dictate what is desirable or valid—reaches its point of highest intensity.
In Metaflesh, the models are captured in the classic poses of fashion and erotic photography, postures designed for exhibition and contemplation. However, Macaco+ introduces a crucial conceptual sabotage: the faces are blurred, lacking sharp features. This curatorial gesture deprives the figures of their individual identity, transforming them into avatars, into interchangeable representations of an unattainable archetype. They are the manifestation of “Metaflesh,” the flesh that exists as an idea, as an imposed ideal rather than an organic reality.
The distortion at the figures’ edges—the blurring of their contours—acts as a visual metaphor for the increasingly blurred boundaries between corporal reality and the digitally altered ideal. This tension reflects the distortion that the imposition of aesthetic canons exerts on self-perception and physical well-being.
If the classic pose represents the premeditation and control of the fashion system, the incorporation of Glitch gestures represents the inevitable escape.
The Glitch erupts in the composition like an aesthetic short circuit, a system failure that Macaco+ turns into a signature. These “aesthetic accidents” are the vital counterpoint to the perfection and coldness of the hegemonic image. They are the evidence that even the most controlled visual code can break, allowing noise, emotion, and the fissure to enter.
The Glitch is the critical voice that refuses to be edited; it is the expression of human error and the emotional complexity that hegemonic aesthetics attempt to eradicate.
Dismantling the Canon
Metaflesh is an invitation to look beyond the polished surface. The collection does not seek to offer a solution but to dismantle the framework of the imposed canon. By stripping the bodies of their faces and injecting the controlled chaos of the Glitch, Macaco+ exposes the emptiness behind the pose and the oppression behind the ideal.
The seventeen pieces of Metaflesh function as broken mirrors that reflect the anxiety of a society obsessed with the surface, reminding us that art can be the catalyst to question and, ultimately, subvert the aesthetic values that oppress us.
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