Emoticons have been around for a while, beginning as a childish and simplistic way of expressing emotions in messaging, they have since become images of everyday use – even by adults. But have you ever fancied using something just a little bit more sophisticated? What about a Cindy Sherman self-portrait?
Because the latest addition to the emoticon arsenal is the Cindy Sherman–Icon, these new emoticon designs have been created by New York–based designer Hyo Hong, and draw on the artist’s extensive body of work, in which Sherman photographs herself in different guises. Now you can import them onto your phone for the everyday deployment of a Cindy Sherman identity.
The designer considered Sherman’s multiple iconic identities as the ideal choice for the creation of a more sophisticated emoticon, “I found iconic connections between her self-portraits and emoticons in terms of various facial expressions from one face,” said Hyo in a statement. From enigmatic starlet to aging socialite, Sherman’s works present many choices for the expression of an emotion when communicating.
Sherman, is an American artist, photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits. In 1995, the artist was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Sherman works in series, typically photographing herself in a range of costumes. To create her photographs, the artist shoots alone in her studio, assuming multiple roles as author, director, make-up artist, hairstylist, wardrobe mistress, and model.
The series of 20 “icons” features Sherman’s face, which are cropped from the surrounding imagery, consequently the Sherman faces appear much larger than normal emoticons, which makes them both clunkier and much funnier to deploy while messaging. For now, Hyo has only made made 20 of the Cindy Sherman-icons, but the designer plans to expand the project to include ever more complex emotions.
“Until now, I created 20 initial emoticons which might not cover every type of emotions we need,” Hyo said. “But, Cindy Sherman-icon is an on going project to find more faces out of her previous and upcoming self-portraits and add them to the set.”