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A Bonfire Of The Digitally-Rendered Vanities

After new media artist Emilie Gervais fell in love, she created a digital hodgepodge that includes "a bunch of vanities embedded in a bigger vanity."

Last Saturday, the Panther Modern online galleryopened its "third room"—or third digital gallery space—to Emilie Gervais, a Montreal-born new media artist and "young Internet-based baby," as she calls herself. The collection includes vibrant 3D-rendered scenes, dripping with images of puppies, sparkles, and what appears to be Blingee characters, all situated on fluffy fluorescent landscapes. "I used Blender 2.71 while smoking my raspberry flavoured e-cigarette, and treated architecture like a fine-art painting," writes the artist.

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Before you try to make sense of the effervescent madness, Gervais has a big qualifier: "Please don't force yourself to see theories or heavy concepts here, it's really just a bunch of vanitas embedded in a bigger vanita. I fell in love this year and it's very shiny." So, the website's project bio stating, "These images are 36% of a sprawl youth culture supported and enjoyed by nihilistic technofetishist mercenaries!" can be taken with a grain (or two) of salt.

LaTurbo Avedon, creator and operator of the Panther Modern space, told The Creators Project that she included Gervais in her digital gallery because "each of her URLs has a meticulous amount of arrangement put into them. I was excited to invite her to Panther to see how these items might unpack inside of a 3D space, while still being visible only on someone's screen." Avedon must feel satisfied, as its almost too easy to get lost in the bright textures and near-whimsical environments of the title-less project.

Gervais chatted with us about her digital vanities from the sunny south of France as she drank some Pastis and smoked her e-cigarette—just like any good master of the vanities would.

The Creators Project: Could you tell us about your work from Room Three?

Emilie Gervais: Room Three is the equivalent of my digestion state mixed using a blender and poured into an huge transparent pink heart shaped glass with light effects because I’m always thirsty for magical pink smoothies. I worked while smoking my raspberry flavored e-cigarette in order to treat architecture like a fine-art painting. Room Three is a bunch of vanities embedded in a bigger vanity.

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What were your inspirations for this series and what was your work method?

I started during a web jam we did with a couple of friends. I was inspired by Brixton Cats, reflective surfaces, the ocean, the song "Fuck Forever" and my personal website. I hadn’t done much 3D before, which allowed me to really play with the software without carrying much about irrelevant stuff. Irrelevant stuff being the type of stuff you start thinking about when you master a tool. I was excited when La Turbo asked me to contribute to Panther mainly for that reason: making works with tools I don’t often use gives me that feeling you get when you crash a software for a good reason.

How would you describe the exhibition space itself? 

Google told me that Panther Modern is a guy internet user that lives in Texas who loves roller coasters. I asked someone in the street if she cared about Modern Art & Le Corbusier, she replied no. Panther Modern is also a band. In William Gibson’s book, Neuromancer, The Panther Moderns are a cool group of friends. There is a girl named Molly the Razorgirl that penetrates Sense/Net security too.

Do you have any future projects on the horizon?

An online exhibition curated by Valentina Fois at #post2 launching on September 20th. Also, to kiss forever the sweetest lips ever. Possibly while wearing white tees, eating cherries in the pouring rain.

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