Women Identical and yet different - femininity, gaze and self-image between retro-futurism and digital aesthetics by Frank Bittner

About "Women Identical and yet different - femininity, gaze and self-image between retro-futurism and digital aesthetics"

by Frank Bittner

About the artwork

In this panoramic painting, we encounter six young female figures facing the viewer head-on. Their gazes are direct, penetrating and self-confidently calm - a wordless dialogue that simultaneously creates closeness and aloofness. Depicted from the top of the head to the base of the chest, they appear almost identical: flawless, stylised, as if cast from a single mould. Their green-blue eyes shine clearly, their lips are seductively red - a sight of cool perfection reminiscent of virtual avatars or idealised beauty icons.

They are dressed in futuristic ensembles, each individually coloured, yet related in their aesthetics. Their outfits oscillate between fashionable staging and technoid vision. Accessories such as stylised hats, modern headsets and goggles reminiscent of ski goggles lend the women a presence as if they came from another time - a space between retro-futurism and digital utopia.

The almost clone-like appearance of the figures - as if freshly "peeled out of an egg" - raises questions about identity and self-image in the age of standardisation. Do they embody a new form of collective individuality or the satirical exaggeration of a standardised ideal of beauty?

Ultimately, there is more to the direct gaze than mere observation - it is inverted. The viewers themselves become the object of observation. The work thus becomes a mirror: for the image of the woman, for the staging of the self and for the incessant dialogue between surface and depth.

Created by Frank Bittner with support from AI.