Ben Fieldhouse

Quenched

My newest artwork, an experimental short film titled Quenched, is an informal critique on addiction culture present in corporate North America. In this film, I explore my personal experience growing up with my father, a victim of corporate addiction culture, and how his passing has affected me. The film reflects on the glorification of the corporate workplace within North America, as well as juxtaposing it with the harsh reality of my experience, death.The material evolves as the film progresses, moving through more traditional, 2D digital animation towards more experimentation with both subject and material. The latter half of the film blends digital compositing techniques and photography with the 2D digital animation from the first half as the pace intensifies. The film's title, Quenched, stands as a direct nod to addiction, as the word itself implies satisfying a craving. It additionally stands as a metaphor for the routine of a 9-to-5 as being similar to thirst as it is never something you can fully avoid.

“My work explains the current addiction culture of the North American corporate sphere, as I conceptualize the emotions of anger, exploitation, and lack of control. I explore my personal experience growing up with my father, a victim of corporate addiction culture, and furthermore how his passing has affected me. The film was a practice in looking back on my anger, and recontextualizing where it was placed at the time of his passing, now allowing me to look back on it with a far more critical gaze. My newest film, an experimental short film titled Quenched, explores the romanticization of business culture, as I attempt to visualize the disgust I feel towards this as a victim of addiction culture. The film is an exaggerated depiction of business norms such as client meetings where there is an expectation to unwind and let go and the predatory nature of them. Upon viewing, the music and visuals take you through slower scenes of the corporate world, with images of the workplace environment as employees are preparing to unwind. As the film progresses, it moves towards sultry with a dramatic, romanticization of smoking and drinking, before the visuals pick up in pace and intensity, and the music becomes disorderly, and louder. The intention is for this overwhelming, looming pressure to build for the first half of the film as the audience too waits for a release, only to be met with the harmful reality. The viewer can only now see the damage as I have found to understand it. The inspiration came from a mixture of personal stories, and a reflection of the glorification of the corporate world in a large amount of modern film. Business has long stood as one of the quickest pathways out of a lower income life, as it has historically required a far less significant amount of education in comparison to other high earning jobs. The Corporate world however is also rooted so heavily in a hierarchy that there is a large amount of exploitation that goes unaddressed when compared to the glorification of the salary.The material evolves as the film progresses, moving through the more traditional, 2D digital animation work towards more experimentation with both subject and material. The latter half of the film blends digital compositing techniques and photography with the 2D digital animation from the first half of the film as the pace intensifies. This transformation stands as a visual metaphor for the animation industry, as art is not exempt from the harm of the corporate world, as it too often stands encompassed by it. The title of the film, Quenched, comes from this notion of quenching one's thirst. It stands as a direct nod to addiction, as the world itself implies satisfying a craving, but also stands as a metaphor for the routine of a 9 to 5, as similarly to being thirsty it is never something you can fully avoid. ”