Cute has been on my mind. Originally, I wanted to a paint photorealistic series of portraits of women based on images they've posted of themselves in online communities such as Friendster and Myspace. Given a large sample (that is, a lot of images), patterns emerge. One being the "cute" aesthetic. Images falling into this category are often shot from above, the forshortened  perspective enlargening the eyes, and depending on the crop, offering a birds eye view of cleavage. The images go beyond simplistic Lolita associations, but for me relate to a larger culture of "complex cuteness". I was suprised to find that actual, undoctored images of women taken at certain angles actually looked like manga cartoons. They have in effect reduced themselves to cartoonish charicatures of the idea of cuteness.

For an example, see the friendster user account: Most Desired

And it is through this departure that the series of paintings I'm currently working on have instead become flat outlined color, cartoonish and exaggerated. Cute but with something unsettling.

There is an interesting post on the "I oso want" blog of Vincent Liu. He has reposted an article by Natalie Anger, "The Cute Factor", which attempts to examine the culture of cute - launching with cute phenomena surrounding the newborn panda at the Smithsthonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C.

More reading
I oso want. The Cute Factor
Website. All things Kawaii