Project 3 Research

Evan Roth
The first artist I have chosen for my project 3 research in Evan Roth, an american artist born in 1978, who currently works in Paris. He is represented by N2 Galleria and also receives support from both eyebeam and rhizome for socio-critical works that exist in both the digital and public spheres. Roth is especially interested in the bridges between graffiti and programming, and his hacker-like style is reminiscent of Adbusters and other culture jamming artists. He has had works exhibited in many noteworthy museums including MOMA NYC, won awards including the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. He is also the co-founder of GRL (Graffiti Research Lab), a collective which focuses on freely distributing street art techniques and open-source coding for graffiti artists.

Although you can access his website by clicking on his name above, anyone can easily find Roth's work by googling "bad ass mother fucker"

Evan Roth's Project TSA Communication is a an art piece that comments on the sterile, impersonal experience traveling by air while implying a disconnect between the views of the american people and the views of the Federal Government, "inviting the government to learn more about passengers than just the contents of their carry on bags" The project indirectly responds to the US involvement in the Iraq war on the basis that TSA, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, beefed up their efforts to tighten screening procedures. This led to an outbreak of racial profiling specifically in American airports, and the tightened security caused much controversy in american public opinion regarding the violation of constitutional rights. Events like this, surrounding the attacks of 9/11, were government manipulations of information in attempt to control public opinion.

The archive of Evan Roth is chock-ful of projects like this one. Light Criticism is another project that uses both digital elements and guerrilla techniques to address the public. 

In this project, Roth creates cardboard cut-out stencils which read, " NYC's real graffiti problem. Graffiti = Advertising." and places them over backlit advertisements in the public sphere. The project comments on corporate ownership of the public sphere, and the NYC government removing "illegal" banners by artists. "we’ve watched our friends be detained, arrested, beat, fined, tried, and given real jail sentences, not a single corporate toy from any ad firm has had to do any time." 

Roth is highly invested in using art and technology to create a more open dialogue for citizens both locally and internationally and, on top of all this, he plans to use rap music, a popular genre in the american youth, to relay his passion for activism and breakdown some of the dangerous constructs of censorship and control.

What I took from Roth is that, in order to use creativity for change, or use art to relay a message, you must enter both pop culture and the public sphere. Modern society is surrounded and made dizzy by tactical corporate media and if you expect, as an artist/activist, you must use some tactics of your own to break through to your audience. These tactics could include the ad firm's own method, by forcing the viewer to take in the message due to it's placement, or by generating social interest by way of shock or controversy. Either way, an important aspect that allows these tactics to affect, is the human element, In layman's terms, the public's understanding of your work in the public context requires you, as the conductor, to have something important for them to hear.

Images and text in the boxes above are screen shots taken from an interview by Juxtapoz Magazine. October 2010, issue no. 117, pp. 126-135


ART THOUGHTZ WITH HENNESSY YOUNGMAN

The second artist I have chosen for project 3 is Hennessy Youngman, a video artist who emerged on his own youtube channel in 2010. He first discovered his passion for art while working as a security guard at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Although intrigued by the efforts of classical artists exhibited, Youngman has expressed an interest in contemporary art that say something and does something in the present, much more specifically invested in the study of art of american hip-hop culture. 


On his channel, ART THOUGHTZ, Youngman assumes the role of art critic, discussing contemporary art issues surrounding race, gender, and pop culture. Youngman occupies a special category in this light as both performance and a video artist, and in several ways, an activist. His video works sample the artistic language of hip-hop culture but in a way that elevates its form into the dialogue of fine art. By addressing contemporary art theory in the vocabulary of hip-hop vernacular, Youngman defies the status quo in the world of youtube channels and that of high brow art discussion. In an indirect fashion, he invites criticism of his character/ideology by his use of popular slang and humor, which only serves to facilitate his discussions. He expresses a strong interest in popular culture evaluating their own definitions of art by listening and responding to compliments and criticism in his videos, which are either posted as comments on his videos or sent to him through emails and other forms of social media including  twitter. In his brief history as a youtube broadcaster, Youngman has managed to generate over 10,000 subscribers and over 1 million views. He has also been interviewed by the Huffington Post in addition to being featured by F.A.T. Lab (The Free Art and Technology Lab, Eyebeam Sponsored) "an organization dedicated to enriching the public domain through the research and development of creative technologies and media."

What I have taken from Hennessy Youngman that sometimes being as direct as possible is the best way to evoke change. At the end of the day, art is a rudimentary form of expression that both grows from, and has its foundations in, social dialogue and change. Through Youngman, I have gleaned a greater appreciation and understanding of the artists role/ human element of art, as well as the effects of an artist's presence as public figure in the art world.