While the contemporary art world has spurned many sub-categories of aesthetic preferences delineated by the artist’s medium, the majority of the American masses cannot specify any revolutionary art movements within the last two decades. Many art history classes in secondary schools stop with “post-modern art” and to describe the dilemma of not being able to categorize what has developed hereafter, will slop the messy title “post-postmodern art” in frustration.
Since the rise of the Internet and distribution of contemporary art resources and artist property through analytical search engines, it seems there are many encompassing niches for any kind of art which is being made, if one only knows the URL. Sites such as Tumblr, Instagram, 4chan, and Pinterest have all grown sustainable audiences whose creative projects take on similar forms and represent what is “cutting edge” and “hipster” in the marketplace today. While Internet art, more commonly referenced as “net art” (1994-early 2000s) has been created since the World Wide Web was originally instated, Post Internet art (2006- ) deals with our art which is a direct yield of our time on the Internet. Think Peggy Noland’s Social Media dresses, decorated with screenshots of news feeds, or of many younger artists who are photographing subjects in studio and then elaborating their compositions with idealistic objects found via the Internet. This work is publicly inclusive, at least to those who know of its channels, but yet exclusive to older generations who only frequent galleries to see fine art. What are the benefits and disadvantages of this new art field, and why are we just beginning to see it bloom in Kansas City?
Perhaps my generation is one of appropriation, but to me I see the radical changes in our art scene as a reaction to globalization and urban culture. Many students graduating with liberal arts degrees this year count their blessings from the small padding they had from the 2008 economic crisis. Any closer, and we, like our friends, might have graduated with the general warning: “What are you going to do with that degree?” Some schools including KCAI closed some of their commercial art departments, believing that there was no marketplace for the “luxury” of professional aestheticism. During the post-WWII 1960s, the United States’ economy expanded exponentially, leading to a redistribution of funds to many who now had the means and interest in art patronage. This created an art boom, allowing young artists the chance to make it big as pop culture stars. This newfound wealth gave birth to pop culture and a certain appreciation for luxurious goods. Today as our economy is pulling itself out of stagnation and we can now reflect on a solid year of positive growth, a wave of materialistic appreciation is growing as well.
The world and promotion of the fine artist has landscaped itself dramatically different in the last 20 years. Whereas before artist representatives and gallerists often would discover artists and promote them in accordance to their talents, now artists are self-reliant on that marketing via the internet. It has been said that rather than the art object, artists are made based on “personal empires” which are shaped through internet posts and web styles. Based on a well-designed website an early career artist may win out on commissions over a more technically advanced, late career professional. “Internet Aware” is the mentality of the artist which recognizes that whether or not they choose to distribute their work on the internet, it will be cast into this realm to be devalued, revalued, and distributed. To recognize this fate and consider its effect on the art object may affect any number of layers of production from original composition, digital collaging and time-based video and gif work, to simply how an art object is documented and edited. Adjusting the levels of a piece to read more clearly online inherently changes the content of an artwork.
We are encountering a new realm of art presentation. Twentieth century art practice taught the artist to value and consider context of art creation. As styles and movements rapidly evolved, the contextual intent of the artist’s influence and studio practice defined the importance of the piece itself. Internet surfing-as-art and the juxtaposition of found materials photographed in luxurious and isolated compositions against that of idealized cultural icons from the internet speaks to the art historical precedents of Duchamp’s specification-as-art and more recently, consumption-as-art. While appropriation considers the owner of a material and the right to reproduce its likeness, this new wave of Internet art views the forms of our everyday household and wardrobe as a form which represents today’s manufacturing and Internet profile. The “face of the Internet” is considered heavily for thousands of artists who create images with the direct intention of uploading to Tumblr, Instagram, or Pinterest. Indeed, in Art Institute critiques we hear the term “Tumblr art” as a descriptive aesthetic term.
So where does this movement find its way into the gallery scene? In terms of KCAI students, the majority of the painting department has decidedly been moving away from traditional painting to Post Internet digital work. Interestingly, so too has the Ceramics department. As students begin to experience their first recruitments and press recognition via the internet, their interest in the art object wanes and a fixation of image manipulation and presentation reigns. Objet Boutique, currently on display at Paragraph Gallery displays the work of many ceramicists, local printmakers and fibers artists who have taken a departure from hang-on-the-wall white cube gallery work to create functional house goods and wearables. For as much time as the floor-planning and gallery curating took, the creation of promotional imagery and their Tumblr blog easily took as much precedence. In the words of Joseph Beuys, “If you want to express yourself you must present something tangible. But after a while this has only the function of a historic document. Objects aren’t very important anymore. I want to get to the origin of matter, to the thought behind it.” Text and typography have a high conceptual value in these art works as well, as printing costs become elevated and less-accessible. Many Post Internet pieces today center on the use of typographic elements which are distorted or used as graphic elements to represent the collapse of the print and text empire.
While this art movement has been gaining relevance and use for the last 10 years, we are still slim to see it in Kansas City’s gallery scene. A large reason for this is that the work is meant to exist in alternative spaces. As Instagram photos and photo documentation become more readily accepted art forms and credible institutions such as The Nelson-Atkins teaches “Instagram Photography classes,” we see a melding of our everyday surroundings and installation art. Local gallery Plug Project’s #lostandfoundart initiative offers users of any social media to tag their photos in exchange for a potential cash prize. This art is new and devoid of the traditional conventions of the art world, and therefore has had problems with its presentation in the white cubicle. But as the movement becomes more serious and noteworthy, its practitioners invariably wish to see it regarded with the prestige of a gallery institution. New media used to be displayed in a very isolated setting, but now is becoming more co-mingled.
Lindsey Von Eskind, a recent Charlotte Street addition and alumni of Bard College curated LYLAS, a conjoining show to the Objet Boutique which presents a number of her friends working in the Post Internet theme. Their work is progressive and sometimes even offensive, showcasing everyday objects, girlish colors and the nude body, but also a deliberate awareness of how the exhibition will be photographed as well as contemporary Internet themes. Lindsey’s work is in edited video, showcased on VCRS with padded materials and wrappings which engage the viewer. Her actors are hired on 4chan, paid small amounts of money to read to her, pose for pictures or even come to her exhibitions and participate in an installation. One corner of the gallery had a nail-painting booth manned by a local magician hired from Craigslist.
Is this art? Does it offend you? Does this vapid materialism define to you the lost generations of our capitalist society? While many in Kansas City have just begun to consider these questions in terms of internet and new media, I think we can agree that this is a vital argument to have and that it is long past time for our local art institutions to play host to this conversation.
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