It was a disastrous 2019 for VOLTA New York, with structural problems at Pier 94 leading the Armory Show to unceremoniously boot its younger sister fair from its venue at Pier 90.

Now under new ownership, the fair also has a new location at the Metropolitan Pavilion West.

After last year’s debacle, the majority of dealers did not return, with the number of exhibitors dropping from 78 to 53. But Kaoru Yamamoto, of Amsterdam’s Kyas Art Salon, wasn’t scared away. “I was worried because of the coronavirus!” she exclaimed.

Her two-person booth is one of VOLTA’s highlights. It includes works by Rinus van Hall, who is showing a diminutive series of self-portraits, each priced at $950. Each work depicts the artist through the lens of a different social media filter.

“I took it as a diary. I made a painting a day,” Van Hall told Artnet News, noting that augmented reality was becoming more prevalent.

“Somebody might be putting a filter on top of you,” he warned.

Using Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, Van Hall transformed his face by adding bunny ears, turning his face into a creepy skull, or making his skin look like shiny plastic.

“It’s funny to see how the filters themselves also have an effect on how you pose,” he said. “With a more feminine filter my expressions were completely different.”

Van Hall has made 67 works in the series so far, and he isn’t running out of options. “There is almost a new filter every day which is mind boggling,” he said.

See more paintings from the series below.

Rinus van Hall, <em>The Fake Surface #64</em> (2020). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

Rinus van Hall, The Fake Surface #64 (2020). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

Rinus van Hall, The Fake Surface #2 (2019). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

Rinus van Hall, The Fake Surface #2 (2019). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

Rinus van Hall, The Fake Surface #61 (2020). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

Rinus van Hall, The Fake Surface #61 (2020). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

Rinus van Hall, The Fake Surface #1 (2019). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

Rinus van Hall, The Fake Surface #1 (2019). Courtesy of Kyas Art Salon.

VOLTA New York is on view at Metropolitan Pavilion West, Metropolitan West, 639 West 46th Street, New York, March 4–8, 2020. 

The post See How an Artist Has Harnessed the Power of Augmented Reality to Make a Delightful Series of Self-Portraits appeared first on artnet News.