Meitu MakeupPlus

Ben Elliot’s Meitu MakeupPlus solo exhibition is the result of a brand collaboration with MakeupPlus, a smartphone application developed by Chinese technology company Meitu Inc. Installed on over 100 million devices worldwide, the app is self-described as an «advanced facial recognition and augmented reality technology to enable users to virtually try on top and trending makeup looks (as well as create their own), and then learn how to bring those looks into the real world using in-app makeup tips and video tutorials».

As a continuation of Ben Elliot’s research on brand collaborations as a starting point of his artistic process, the works in the show operate as smart advertising, creating quality space for brand content.
The exhibited canvas depict six of the twelve standardized skin tones developed by Meitu to simulate the most-used shades of their users. The app’s icons are enlarged and reproduced to take the shape of paintings. They are examples of the interpretation of skin tones in a mass market digital context. On a curtain, a portrait taken from computer-generated influencer @perl.www‘s instagram is printed. She appears as the face of the project, embodying digital beauty and Artificial Intelligence.