Date of Award
5-9-2015
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art and Design
First Advisor
Stan Anderson, Associate Professor
Second Advisor
Jeff Boortz, Assistant Professor
Third Advisor
Liz Throop, Associate Professor
Abstract
Church of Kicks is an art installation that deals with product fetish, consumer behavior, and influential power of brands. Using the basketball sneaker consumer subculture as the main subject of focus the exhibit shows how excessive advertising and publication feeds into object idolization, which can lead to extreme, chaotic, and sometimes violent buying behavior. Given its almost identical characteristics with religion in terms of structure and the degree of influence on individuals, consumer culture is religion. By identifying the entities and methods that take part in raising hype and exploiting the extremes of a brand’s cult following, the exhibit makes an attempt to stimulate consumer self-reflection on their own product fetishes and the degree to which they are willing to go to satisfy the urge to fulfill a material obsession.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/7026744
Recommended Citation
Warren, Ricky, "Church of Kicks." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2015.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/7026744