I feel somewhat haunted by Jon Rafman’s suicidal keyboard warrior; first encountered as part of the Science Fiction: New Death exhibition at FACT, no sooner had I flushed the image of Beta Male from my mind than it reappears. Horribly memorable, ripe for a meme, Rafman’s double-barrelled doughboy is brilliantly, grotesquely “internet”, and it’s part of an exploration of the internet and post-internet ages from Cornerhouse Manchester and SPACE London.
You Are Here: Art After the Internet, edited by Cornerhouse curator Omar Kholeif, looks at the work of 22 artists whose work is shaped by the internet, including the techno-retro stylings of Jeremy “Famous New Media Artist” Bailey. His work features portraits of contemporary everyday women showing the classical influences of masters such as Holbein, augmented with costumes constructed from computer-generated polygons that are sophisticated and yet recall the rudimentary aesthetic of early computer graphics. Other artists in the mix include video artist Jennifer Chan and Constant Dullart, and the book, which delvers through essays, criticism and imagery, is published by Cornerhouse.
Jeremy Bailey
Important Portrait of Omar Kholeif and Frank Gallacher (2013)
C-Print,
11″x17″
Courtesy the artist
Jon Rafman
Still Life Betamale (2014)
Courtesy the artist
Jon Rafman
I am alone but not lonely (2013)
Courtesy the artist
Jon Rafman
I dig, you dig, and it, the worm, digs too (2014)
Courtesy the artist
Jeremy Bailey
Important Portrait of Marla Wasser (2013)
C-Print,
42″x58″
Courtesy the artist
Jon Rafman
Still Life Betamale (2014)
Courtesy the artist
Jon Rafman
Still Life Betamale (2014)
Courtesy the artist
