Forced Smile: This piece was created during a class in which Demetrius was asked to work with charcoal in creating a self portrait. There were few limitations or requirements.
Demetrius, obsessed with the effects of close ups, took a 24" x 36" canvas, and put an image almost twice the size of his real face onto it. The clothes pins are rigid, geometric shapes representing the structures of society, held up by others, and forcing our behaviors into line with what others would like to see. This was an exploration of translation. Demetrius "was not sure where the work would go, or why, but he had to create, and he wanted to communicate something, even if the message was not a finished thought."
Under-paintings of two figures hat were to represent a mother and father. Each of a different race. The third underpainting below this is the figure of a boy who is left between the two parents. Neglected by the communities of each race.
Cognitive Dissonance: Cognitive Dissonance was a performance piece created around two concepts: Cognitive Dissonance — a psychological phenomenon which causes one to believe something to be necessarily true, while still acting outside of this belief; Sonder — the realization that each person has their own experience independent of one another and that even though we each exist in each other's world we will never fully comprehend the presence or the experiences of any other person. In this visual auditory experiment, you can see Demetrius working through the inner dialogue that presents the struggles of human self-actualization.
Picking Your Brain: What if we could take our brain out and look at it. Remove our minds from our body and observe them in action? This piece is a wood carving.
A digitally rendered copy of the wire sculpture displayed below. This was a series of experiments in creating in different mediums and with different methods. The original wire model that Demetrius created is below.
