Of The Body I Made

"Of the Body I Made" is Alexander Zeren's Senior Directed Project developed under the guidance of Professor Mark Jenkinson. The images are made in the style of Phillip Leonian's "Transcendentals". The following is the artist's statement from the project. I do not always love my body, often in fact. Often I loathe its shape and proportions and sneer at its frailty and lack of dimension. Sometimes though, I think a master sculptor could not have done better. I stare into the mirror and watch how my muscles ripple and flex. But usually, I am somewhere in between. My perception of the body I have made for myself is a constant conflict between how far I have come and how far I yet have to go, between pride and folly, euphoria and dysphoria. Often I am the body at the bottom of the frame, depressed and abject, crushed with the weight of my own expectations. Sometimes though, I am the body at the top of the frame, sublime and proud, free from the fear of my own failure. But usually, I am the tangled mist between them, transient and ephemeral. My hope is to accept the mist between the extremes.