CURRENT

'One Blown Fuse Away from Irrelevance'

WAAMBAT
Casey Kauffman
Lorna Mills
Carla Gannis
Edgar Fabian Frias

The title of this show was inspired by artist Lorna Mills' candid remark during a podcast interview. It struck a chord in its blend of humor, absurdity, and brutal honesty. In an era of growing interest in digital art, we find ourselves grappling with challenges in presenting the work as intended, hindered by limited technology and formatting options, and facing sparse access to proper equipment. All the while, we confront the relentless march of the digital world, moving forward with or without us. Yet, undeterred, we persist in bringing the virtual into the real, hoping our breakers can handle the load.

The artists in this exhibition are deeply immersed in the digital world, both as creators and consumers of the visual language of the internet: gifs, memes, and emojis serve as their raw materials. They mine the vast digital detritus, seeking gems that resonate with our shared televisual experiences. WAAMBAT and Casey Kauffman engage in a visual linguistic interplay, juxtaposing conversation gifs and memes to subvert and challenge recurring motifs in popular culture. They question the way algorithms promote sexualized imagery while banning nudity and amplify tropes of privileged rage.

Lorna Mills, employing pixelized cut-outs from the dark web to confront our collective delusion of living in a polite society. Her works expose the vast cache of the obscene, absurd, and filthy lurking just beneath the surface of our digital existence.

Carla Gannis and Edgar Fabian Frias explore the embodiment of internet identities and acknowledge the significance of self-selected names and personas in shaping our virtual presence and the unique interaction that occurs between these personas. 

 

 

'Streams of Consciousness'

Saxon Quinn
John Goetz
Michael Black