Ian Nickols MFA Visual Studies Thesis 2018

Lifestyle Fantasies and Science Fiction

My work is a juxtaposition of two fictions: Domestic magazine illustrations from the ’60s, and speculative fiction paintings of alien environments.

I use the lifestyle illustrations as compositional reference guides, referencing elements of color, shape, and asymmetry of composition. I decipher shapes, forms, and color from the lifestyle reference image, into a fantastical narrative. Magazine ads that are centered around movie star handsome figures dissolve into obscure environments, charged with imagined perils that are dislocated from the present.

The lifestyle print and speculative painting are two stand-alone pieces, juxtaposed and recontextualized.

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MFA in Visual Studies Thesis Works