Art Thoughtz- Hennessy Youngman (Jayson Musson)
This is not a sculptural work, and only loosely can be considered an assemblage, but I thought it fits well into the realm of digital art and assemblage. Over two years, 2010 and 2011, Youngman (an african american satirical character played by Jayson Musson) posted semi regular Vlogs onto youtube, critiquing the art world, often from the vantage point of a young african american male. Youtube had only just begun as a streaming site, and the idea of it being used as a social media platform was far from conceived. Youngman often mentions the racial unbalance in the artworld, as he says in ART THOUGHTZ: how to be a successful artist; “be white, white makes the world go round. that’s why i filmed this video in my white antichamber. my alabastar alcove”. Through the voice of a fictional character, commentary and critique on the subjects of our every day world dips in and out of reality. Does it really take a caricature so blatantly using stereotypes to get people to listen?
Jon Rafman
Primarily a video artist, Jon Rafman harnesses the power of glitchy, 2000s-esque animation and modelling to communicate his dreams and comments on our technological based existence today. The world of the internet has quickly become synonymous with the modern world, and the over saturation of online assets, be it webpages, film, or our friends the .obj’s, can quickly become too much to handle. Artists like Jon Rafman combine this chaos well with digital art, though the confusion isn’t always lost. One fantastic example of his work is his ‘Dream Journal’ video work1. Though this began as Rafman’s method of documenting his dreams, it quickly became a distorted exploration of the contemporary mind2. I appreciate the total headfuck that ensues watching Rafman’s video work, and the fact that we can pick out our own meaning to these things, for though ‘story’ is unclear, it’s just close enough to our world that we can relate to it.
When I first saw his work it was at the Bienalle in 2019. I was so confused. Projected on a wall probably 30m2, 50 odd people reclined in comfy chairs and oggled. I didn’t last more than 20 minutes before I walked out, wondering why “art has become so weird and shite”. I had no perception then, and only am I slowly beginning to understand what kind of things seek up through works by people like Jon Rafman.
Team Rofles
Team Rofles comprises of brothers Sam and and Andy Rofles. The Rofles brothers create hellish experimental digital art, distorting the virtual world around them. Often using motion capture equipment, VR headsets, and Unreal Engine, the realtime performances they do mix painting, sculpture, and animation. In a show for MoMa, Team Rofles “allowed audience members to upload photos directly from phones, which would retexture models in an apocalyptic wasteland in real time.”3. This is a great example of their experimental work, and I think it shows the way in which they attempt to push the boundaries of what video work is today. The line of what’s real and not is often blurred, with faint hints of human anatomy coming through the tangled mass of shapes of colours, as seen in one of their videos below.
The video is actually a great exemplar of what goes on in ‘frontman’ Sam Rofles mind. An avatar leads the VR programs player/the viewer through a mostly-static world of portfolio. We see digital paintings which it describes to have been made very spontaneously and with total expression, and then a scene which later becomes animated, comprising of assets used for a House of Kenzo show. Even here in this video it’s hard to tell what’s being acted out and what the program is leading us through itself, it seems like the motion which the VR activates plays another audio clip, creating an extremely fluid playthrough… I really recommend you watch the video!
1 Jon Rafman, “Dream Journal”, video, : 2016-2019, http://jonrafman.com/jon-rafman-dream-journal/
2 ArtBasel, “Dream Journal 2016-2017, 2017”, accessed 10 October 2021, https://artbasel.com/catalog/artwork/69704/Jon-Rafman-Dream-Journal-2016-2017
3 Grayson Blackmon, “HOW TEAM ROLFES USES MOTION CAPTURE SUITS TO CREATE WILD INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES”, August 30, 2019, https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/30/20814113/team-rolfes-vr-motion-capture-digital-performance
Bibliography
Net Art Anthology. “ART THOUGHTZ, Jayson Musson, 2010-2012”. Accessed 09 October 2021. https://anthology.rhizome.org/art-thoughtz
Moulton, Aaron. “Portrait: Jon Rafman”. 03 March, 2020. https://spikeartmagazine.com/articles/portrait-jon-rafman
Blackmon, Grayson. “HOW TEAM ROLFES USES MOTION CAPTURE SUITS TO CREATE WILD INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES”. August 30, 2019. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/30/20814113/team-rolfes-vr-motion-capture-digital-performance