Early JPEGS, 2013-2016

The following pieces were posted to my tumblr account in summer of 2016. They represent a small but complete body of work exploring the relationship between digital images, self-expression, internet decay and painting. These pieces have been largely preserved in their original resolutions with their original captions and titles, though some small adjustments have been made. The term “JPEG” is chosen intentionally; unless otherwise specified, this is the medium of every piece in this series as I identified it back in 2016. The JPEG, a fragile and destructible piece of the internet’s navigable structure, has seen evolution even since these pieces originated: once the backbone of visual culture online, it has now been replaced with more secure, high-resolution, or format-locked file types.

At the time these pieces were created, I was between life phases; not sure if I would continue to pursue art in an academic sense, I began investigating my own internet habits and producing rapid-fire, lowbrow pieces that were heavily inspired by Fluxus artists of the 60s as well as the net art that surrounded my on tumblr and elsewhere in the 2010s. While no single piece in this series is of great significance, and many are more like sketches for larger pieces, I believe that when viewed together they provide an interesting snapshot into what I and other amateur artists had on their minds in 2016. Pieces like Emotional Intimacy Card Game racked up thousands of interactions when originally posted. As the social media landscapes shift with political currents and the fate of many personal archives is left uncertain, I took the time to re-download and present these pieces in a new context.

In addition to the original series of work from 2016, I have also included three pieces created during my time as a community college student in 2012-2014. I believe these pieces provide additional context for some of the ideas explored here.