via GIPHY Randy Cano: Bae + Love
“Viral culture” at once puts users into contact with more artists and their works, but in the process artists can (and do) lose ownership. Hoping to remedy this in their small way, artists Nicole Ruggiero and Tighe Rzankowski formed the internet collective Post Vision, a place where artists could exhibit together and “re-attach” to their works. When GIPHY recently reached out to Ruggiero to commission a few pieces, she instead asked if they would be willing to do an exhibition with Post Vision instead.
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The result is a three-way collaboration between Post Vision, Giphy and Soho-based new media art gallery Superchief, in which 19 artists exhibited works in reaction to the “anonymity of the meme generation.” Among the various pieces are the pastel cyber-worlds of Josefin Jonsson’s Alien Twerk, the molten beauty of Randy Cano’s Bae + Love, and Render Fruit’s humorous Pizza DJ, amongst others that can be seen in Post Vision’s recap video.
via GIPHY Blake Kathryn & jmckeehen: Sexy Savage
“The concept is internet art and the individual—we strive to reattach the artists to her or his artwork,” Ruggiero tells The Creators Project. “The GIPHY-commissioned pieces have their own theme which is Social Technology & Phraseology: The Culture Around Meme Culture. The idea for this was to create something that could be virally successful based on influential cultural topics around the web.”
For this exhibition, Ruggiero, Rzankowski and co-curator Franziska Von Guten went with 3D artists because that was the common starting point. In the future, however, they are looking to expand outside of this particularly medium to include photography, sculpture, painting, styling and so on.
via GIPHY Josefin Jonsson (Pastelae): Alien Twerk
“A lot of pieces in this show have 90s-to-modern-day nostalgic themes because that is when the internet started and continues to be used very heavily,” Ruggiero explains. “You’ll see things like Tamagotchis and Solo cups as well as iPhones and laptops scattered throughout the pieces. Other artists focus on using digital-feeling characters to express very human emotion.”
The exhibition’s opening also featured performances by Abbi Press and Dirty Chocolate, both artists who create music that is influential within the internet art world.
via GIPHY Render Fruit: Pizza DJ
“It was very strongly felt during each of their performances just how involved they have been in the scene, as they naturally provide sound that accompanies the artworks so strongly,” says Ruggiero. “Both are very close to numerous artists and continue to collaborate with them to create fully-engulfing experiences.”
VJ Abi Laurel provided visuals for Abbi Press and Dirty Chocolate’s respective sets. Laurel herself is also established in the internet art scene, with Ruggiero saying that her visuals added another dose of the aesthetic to the opening.
via GIPHY Nicole Ruggiero & Truulo: Woke Coffee
Though the exhibition reconnecting internet artists with their artwork, Ruggiero also insists it was an opportunity to see the internet outside of mobile devices.
“I want people to be able to experience URL, IRL,” she says. “Meaning, I’d like people to take away a bit of the internet and sustain that connection. Even when the Wi-Fi is down.”
via GIPHY Sasha Katz: Boys’ Tears
Giphy + Post Vision | SUPERCHIEF GALLERY SOHO from SUPERCHIEF TV on Vimeo.
Click here to see more works from the Post Vision exhibition.
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