Jayne Mansfield
Asher Liftin, 2023, Acrylic ink and acrylic paint on canvas
Liftin’s background in cognitive science informs much of his work, which explores questions of technology, visual experience, engagement, and alienation. Jayne Mansfield, a sex symbol of the fifties, is here given back to us in pointillistic form – smiling out at us through pixelated eyes. Liftin takes a familiar figure, someone who, because of the workings of fame and popular culture, we might in some way lay claim to, and renders her distant, unreachable, and unreal – locked behind the screen.