Gabrielle Salonga’s 2021 piece Enter the Dream depicts a surreal, 3D rendered liminal space, in which a vast spiral staircase ascends into the sky from the ocean. Frustrated by the limitations of photographing the real world, Salonga turned to 3D rendering programs like Cinema 4D (C4D) to construct the immersive, dream-like environments she saw in her head (Angelos, 2021). Like Pike, Salonga’s work is shaped by liminal space and vaporwave aesthetics (Angelos, 2021). In Enter the Dream, she uses C4D to sculpt a staircase that rises from the water through dense violet clouds, evoking both wonder and disorientation. In an interview with Creative Boom magazine, Salonga explains that the piece was inspired by a vivid dream where she felt she “lived for what felt like decades in what [she’d] describe as a 'modern afterlife', only to wake up as a teenager again” (Angelos, 2021). This piece reflects Christiane Paul’s definition of digital art because Salonga uses programs like C4D as more than just a tool, but a medium that defines the concept and aesthetic of her art. Enter the Dream’s candy-like colour palette, impossible architecture, and illusion of infinite empty space can only be constructed through digital art programs like C4D and Photoshop, making it essential in creating her work.
Enter the Dream,
Gabrielle Salonga, 2021
Salonga is a Filipino-British 3D artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in London (Angelos, 2021). She grew up in Hong Kong, and her creative endeavours began with photography. This evolved into Salonga learning 3D rendering programs like C4D to create the scenes in her work, along with Photoshop to alter the colours and achieve her signature ethereal quality in her art (Angelos, 2021).
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