Nic Rad is a Brooklyn-based artist. He is about to be very important. There are several reasons.
People Matter is the First
People Matter is an art series that, in the words of the artist, is
comprised of 99 paintings of traditional and new Media personalities to be exhibited, and then given away at the opening in April, to those in attendance at Rare Gallery.
This gift experiment is conducted in response to the impact of technological advances that allow for increased sharing of information and content. The project will survey distorting effects of this transition on emerging and developing ideas.
Subjects were chosen based on personal Googling, Twittering, Hyperlinking, Facebooking, RSS culling and otherwise staggering around the internet and media cyberscape.
Recipients of the work will be encouraged to participate in the on going gift actions of the PeopleMatter community as well as setting the second hand value of art works as conversation vessel, novelty, or digital and physical barter.
I’ve been familiar with People Matter since Nic and I met over the summer while he was planning the first step of his multi-tiered agenda. That step consisted of Nic giving away 99 copies of the Lewis Hyde’s seminal book on creativity and gift economies, The Gift. Yes, he gave away 99 copies of a book that influenced him. Nic Rad is a Romantic after all though I am sure he’ll disagree.
The artist also “rebranded” the books by painting every cover with a unique design. Every single book was snatched up. The only payment Nic requested was that those who received the gift leave their email address for Nic to stay in touch with them.
People Matter: Stained Glass and Iconostasis
The Power of Free
Is Nic the first artist to give his work away? Of course not. But Nic is the first artist I know of to take on the subject of Free so boldly. Adding another layer to this project is the subject matter of Nic’s art; media personalities of every stripe, level of achievement and cultural influence. From the lowliest Gawker Media bloggers to Malcolm Gladwell and the friggin’ Pope! The ONE thing that binds these disparate voices is that they exist in a cultural milieu and/ or industries whose business models have either been turned upside down or been the cause of that flip.
But it wasn’t until several things happened that I recognized the importance and power of Nic’s project. First and foremost I was able to visit Nic’s studio on several occasions to see the works in progress. I’ve spent about 8 hours in their presence so far. It took me 5 hours before I could even really respond to what I was seeing. For someone who never shuts the fuck up, this alone let me know I was in the presence of something powerful. I usually only get quiet confronted with artistry greater than the volume of my own self-consciousness. Slowly I began to find the words to articulate in formal terms what I was seeing.
The other events took longer to percolate. Since Nic put me on this path with his conversation, his friendship (full disclosure, we buy each other dinner’s frequently, though I think he owes me one at this point. Beyond that I have a full-on boy crush on him. So yeah, I know him and I am championing his work. Am I compromised? Possibly, but as Miles Davis said so eloquently, “So What?”) and his support, I’ve cast my net out into the wider world looking for other examples of similar work.
What was I looking for?
I was looking for social media artists. But then, what is a social media artist? I am not sure yet. But I have a pretty good idea what a social media artist is NOT, and perhaps by winnowing down what social media artists are not, we can begin to arrive at a place close to what a social media artist, in fact, is.
A Social Media Artist is Not..
One who looks to broadcast their art using the tools of social media exclusively to sell their art
Sure, selling is an important aspect of social media engagement by ANY content producer, but for an artist to truly be a social media artist, it cannot be the fundamental reason for their engagement. Nic’s social media engagement turns this on its head. In fact, because he has almost nothing to sell (Nic is, in fact, putting several larger works up for sale as a part of his show) Nic’s engagement with social media is more about inspiration, curation and conversation.
This gives us a peek into what a social media artist is. A social media artist is one who uses the tools, philosophies and instruments of social media to affect their work, to find sources of inspiration, both visual and sub-textual, to join the community of artists, to build and strengthen that community.
What else?
A true social media artist is one who uses those very same tools to listen. That is perhaps the striking feature of Nic’s enterprise. He self-consciously used tools such as Twitter, RSS feeds, Facebook, blogs and new media websites to sense that “internal hum,” the conversations, issues and problems unique to content creators. And his work reflects this artistically.
Social networks cost us nothing. Except perhaps that most precious resource: time.
Modernism and Social Media
Clement Greenberg
Clement Greenberg, in his seminal essay Modernist Painting, wrote:
Modernism includes more than art and literature. By now it covers almost the whole of what is truly alive in our culture. It happens, however, to be very much of a historical novelty. Western civilization is not the first civilization to turn around and question its own foundations, but it is the one that has gone furthest in doing so. I identify Modernism with the intensification, almost the exacerbation, of this self-critical tendency that began with the philosopher Kant. Because he was the first to criticize the means itself of criticism, I conceive of Kant as, the first real Modernist.
The essence of Modernism lies, as I see it, in the use of characteristic methods of a discipline to criticize the discipline itself, not in order to subvert it but in order to entrench it more firmly in its area of competence. Kant used logic to establish the limits of logic, and while he withdrew much from its old jurisdiction, logic was left all the more secure in what there remained to it.
Social media might be the most alive part of our culture right now. Clem goes on to talk about how modernist art is that art which employs the demands of the medium to criticize itself. And Nic holds true to Clem’s contention that modern art does this not as a way to diminish or “subvert” that art, but as a way to strengthen it.
To know something of the way Nic views and uses blogs and twitter, rss feeds and the conversations that run like electric strands through our cutlure, is to know that Nic adheres to Greenberg’s strictures. Nic is a Modernist and a Romantic now.
My formal analysis of Nic’s work will follow in a subsequent blog post. But I think that is enough for now. Don’t you?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My thoughtful response will be sent via horse drawn wagon. I’ve moved off the internet for a week. Went on the lam. When it arrives I intended to follow you up with a few swift kicks to the gut. Your appreciation of my work is very sweet. I think you might have bought the farm on this one though.
“Social Media” is the only phrase I like less than romantic or modernist– and those all used together are curse words raised to a power that my analog mind cannot compute.
That said I do like your insanity. It keeps me from feeling alone in the world.
“Free” is as much of a gimmick as it is a failure of my ability to comprehend an endless motivation to stalk other people’s lives. Or to understand how these ‘internet people’ have made it through this madhouse in one piece. Plotting bits of collective human matter. It’s what I do. I love them all so much.
In the interim- busy or bore yourself with similar rantings. I like to see you good and frothy at the mouth. In the 24 hours since I’ve left New York- real things have happened. Physical things. People talk to me, non satirically. I’ve twice made eye contact without shouting spontaneous insults.
I believe I’m significantly closer to understanding what this whole “poke” metaphor is about. Details to come.
Social Media Artist? Garbage. I’m trying to capture a moment. There are other fools trying to turn lead into gold. We are average idiots, looking for a village.
With love and resentment, your ‘friend,’
Nic
ephemerality is a major aspect of the social media reality. how many links do we click and never look at, how many songs do we hear and forget, how many avatars do we see before they skip off the screen never to be seen again…capturing a moment, a whispy smoky second of truth and beauty is the most social aspect of your work because you are humanizing what it is to exist in today’s culture