The Show Must Go Home: Senior Thesis Exhibition Spring 2020

Tram Dang

MEMEMECHEENE
Tram Dang

MEMEMECHEENE (Meme Machine) explores the internet constantly evolving with new content and information being produced daily. Because of this, memes have a shelf life: one minute they are relevant, the next they are old. What I aimed to do in this collection is to compile memes throughout the years and generate my own “meme” through painting. Humans are growing closer to a robot where every action we have engrains a reaction. If there is a post we like, we double-tap to like and repost it. If we hate it, we react with an angry emoji or tweet about it.

As an artist, I saw my final thesis as an opportunity to create a visual collection of my life through the lens of pop-culture, the internet, memes, and social media. All of which I consider to play a huge part in my life. I chose these themes because they are the current staple of my generation and an element younger audiences can relate to and begin to understand. As this project is a view of my upbringing and culture, I used these mediums to represent myself within American society. Each of the four 30” x 50” paintings are their own entity weaving together into a tapestry of my life, through the ups and downs, the struggles as well as the laughs that have stood out to me within my upbringing.

I grew up in a working-class family in Santa Ana. My parents were immigrants from Vietnam. I witnessed their struggles growing up as outsiders to the American culture and the English language. We did not have a lot of money growing up so I learned how to save, work hard, and earn my place within the world. With that in mind, I wanted to explore the concept of digital citizenship considering the internet is a defining part of my life and recent works. Because the internet today is an international platform, digital citizenship is the thought that everyone that engages in the internet and social media is a part of a new collective culture not restricted to borders. This was interesting to me because my parents being immigrants and my upbringing as an Asian minority, the internet is a place that allows anyone to become a citizen within its culture, regardless of who you are or where you are from. My work is rooted in shared popular culture and more specifically American pop culture where memes are a way of expression. 

My conflicting relationship with my Asian heritage began as I was growing up in the states. When I was younger being surrounded by more traditionally American kids and families I was conditioned to be ashamed of my heritage, I was ashamed of my family’s accents and language, as well as the lunches that I would eat at school. Although not outright bullied, it was still something I was shy about being judged for. However, it wasn't until later when I went to high school and met other Asians that I began to learn more about my culture, the importance, and uniqueness of it. That shame that I carried turned to pride. I came to embrace who I am and became unapologetically Asian-American. I became confident within myself and my culture, that I want to reflect in my art, as well as my future endeavors.

(...) references the messaging symbol on the iPhone when someone is typing. Emojis have become a universal language and an international hieroglyph that many can understand across the world. Emojis have simplified communication on the internet. Growing up, seeing my parents struggle with speaking, communication has been a large part of my life. I come from a bilingual household, but with pop culture and the age of emojis, I like to think that texting is a third language that I grew up speaking, it became another easier way for me and others to communicate. Languages, through memes and emojis, have created a culture that is not restricted to physical borders anymore. Unlike text, where emotion and sarcasm are hard to convey, emoji provide a way for people to express themselves in a short, simple, humorous way. For me, depending on who I talk to, it is hard for me to pick up on social cues or the tone of their voice through text. I cannot understand if someone is excited or angry through caps lock, or if they are just stating an opinion or sarcasm. A person from across the world can understand what someone else is commenting based solely on emojis. I find the humor and playfulness of them to be a refreshing and optimistic way of communication. 

Let’s Get This Bánh Mì refers to my Vietnamese background, but also my low-income family. The title is a reference to the meme “Let’s Get This Bread” which I translated into Vietnamese. Within my childhood, I have memories of recycling cans and bottles for a bit of extra cash, as well as collecting Box Tops and cutting coupons. I learned how to be resourceful and how to hustle at an early age that still resonates with me to this day. I work hard for the benefits that others get easily, being here at Chapman on a scholarship, I’m proud to say that I’ve learned to work hard and to enjoy and save what I've earned. I live by the motto “Work smarter, not harder.”

Is this...My Culture? referencing the meme “Is This a Pigeon''. It’s about my self-discovery and acceptance of my Asian-American background. In the USA there are a large number of Vietnamese immigrants that work in beauty salons because they are not able to get work anywhere else, it's sadly become a stereotype for me and my family. During my childhood, I was always self-conscious about what other people thought. I was embarrassed about bringing Vietnamese food to eat in front of people. I wanted to fit in and be accepted by eating what all the other kids were eating and doing so by getting cafeteria food. Growing up and seeing this, I wasn’t able to understand the complication or racial stereotypes at the time, and made me question who I was as an Asian-American. Through this piece, it allowed me to reflect, grow, and discover who I am and my appreciation of Asian pop culture.

About 4 by 6.5 Bananas Tall which is a reference to “Banana for Scale”, a more forgiving unit of measurement. Bananas have become a symbol of mine, I’ve used the motif of the banana in many of my past works to represent my humor and optimism. It's about my growth from childhood, nostalgic innocence into the woman that I am today, while still maintaining a joyful and humorful attitude. I am still able to make others laugh and be happy. And that is something that I wish my audience to feel, after meeting me and after seeing my work. The use of my childhood pop culture games and shows such as the Giant Banana from Mario Kart or Sailor Moon’s hair shows that although I am graduating and growing I am still able to tap into my playful side from my past. 

My decision to make a painted digital collage, the collages contain symbols, metaphors, and puns that represent me in different settings. I look to the internet for inspiration, if I see something that sparks a feeling I like to explore it and run with it. My work also draws upon some postmodernist concepts, such as satire, obscurantism, irony, and the metanarrative. These paintings combine satirical humor of my multicultural perspective through the use of the internet and memes. It is heavily inspired by artists such as Jeff Koons and his work in digital collages, Lari Pittman’s sense of layering and technique, as well as Takahashi Murakami with his playful and SuperFlat style.

It was important to me that the work actually be hand-painted, although a digital collage is meant to look digital the entire painting including the making of the canvases was all done by me. The act of painting solidifies the work as a more personal representation as myself because I am telling a story of my growth and upbringing it was important to me that as a painting grows with more paint and layers put onto it I grew as well. And once it's finished, it creates a timestamp of each painting that is solidified at this current state of myself graduating Chapman and concluding a large chapter within my life.  With this new collection, these paintings project my personality and humor in a new light, through the language of the internet and pop-culture. I hope the audience can get to know me as a person and artist.

To learn more about Tram's work visit:
https://dang135.wixsite.com/tram-dang

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