Match/Enemy

Match/Enemy consists of over 200 watercolor “portraits” of men that were matched to the artist's own profile by the online dating app OkCupid. Displayed on a grid, the portraits incorporate the percentage of Match and Enemy. Those percentages are calculated by an algorithm when users answer questions within the app. Thus, Match/Enemy is a visual summary of the artists’ personal experience with the app.

Match/Enemy specifically looks at a subset of men who have chosen to obscure, alter, or hide their physical facial features. By choosing these portraits the artist explores the ideas of altered and adopted personas within social media and contemporary portraiture.

These portraits examine the social and personal ramifications of what dating and being single mean at the beginning of the 21st century, the way we present ourselves on digital platforms as opposed to “real life”, how intimacy can be commodified, and how a number and a single picture represent who we might best be suited for.

Note: These works on paper are 9 x 12”, the image being approximately 7 x 8”. They are 4 times the size the original pictures are displayed on the artist’s iPhone screen, where most of her “shopping” research occurred.

Match (Selection)