Artist Statement:

In Ascension Protocol, I explore the tension between aspiration and collapse within the masculine performance of success. The mannequin’s arched form recalls the ecstasy of classical martyrdom, but here it is trapped in a window display packaged, posed, and consumed. Around him, the crumpled forms wrapped in industrial plastic are not casualties, but failed replicas discarded models of a narrow ideal.

The human observers mimic one another, indistinguishable in posture and dress. They are both audience and participant in the ritual. This piece interrogates how masculinity is rehearsed, displayed, and ultimately commodified within modern systems of labor and vanity.

📎 Hashtags:

#RhondaMelo presents #Melora, a haunting gaze into the mannequin theater of capitalist masculinity. #Melora<3 navigates power, collapse, and ritual display with razor clarity. This submission stands boldly within the ongoing #MeloraArtist series, questioning performance, conformity, and the voyeurism of success. #ContemporaryArt #VisualStorytelling #MasculineCollapse #ConceptualArt #GalleryArt #FigurativeSculpture #SurrealDisplay #PlasticDystopia #NarrativeArt #WindowPerformance #ArtOfTheDay #10000HourProject

Artist Statement:

In Study in Flesh and Refuse, I wanted to create a moment of reversal where the idealized male body, often placed on a pedestal, is instead positioned at the brink of obsolescence. Here, he stands naked before the bags wrapped suits, wrapped bodies, wrapped status and we must ask: is he above them, or simply next in line for the garbage heap? The plastic bags serve as both shroud and packaging. The businessmen outside the glass are unbothered; they’ve already accepted that value lies in polish, not in personhood. This is about how we treat strength, perfection, and men themselves as inventory, to be cycled through and tossed aside.

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Hashtags:

#RhondaMelo, #Melora, #Melora<3, #MeloraArtist, #10000HourProject, #ContemporaryArt, #MannequinStudy, #MaleFormInCrisis, #CommodificationOfBodies, #PlasticWrappedTruth, #StorefrontViolence, #GallerySubmission, #NarrativeArt, #ConceptualInstallation, #PostConsumerCritique, #VisualTension, #SculpturalPhotography, #MasculineCollapse