9 Ways To Kill A Perfectionist

“9 Ways to Kill a Perfectionist” exposes the paradox of a perfectionist using uncanny imagery. Conceptualized through the philosophy of Heidegger, the ‘unheimlich’ (unhomeliness) of perfection is applied to our reality as imperfect beings and ultimately characterized by the pursuit of an unattainable ideal that renders the familiar unfamiliar. The minimal quality of geometric shapes is representative of the way perfectionism numbs an individual to their own tendencies, where the purpose of ambition has been contorted into destructive habits. It is an ‘all or nothing’ attitude, to the point where before we even know it, the world itself has become defamiliarized to us. In this fatalistic time, there is no room for a perfect being in an imperfect world. In this work, the perfectionist must be killed! The form and the meaning became one. All nine segments within this work, the process of making it, and the artist’s own emotional makeup allowed for spontaneous channeling to animate the emotions of the moment. This collection of animations brings to life the manifestation of these symptoms in order to act as a self reflective and confrontational mirror for viewer and artist alike. Nine 3D animated segments are used to symbolize core attributes of perfectionism: destruction, procrastination, incompletion, expectations, defensiveness, anxiety, burnout, control, and motivation. These states emerge not as fixed categories, but as shifting environments where behaviors loop, intensify, and collapse under their own logic.