Parker Ito's work falls partly into the phenomena of 'Net Art', artistic practice revolving around the internet, memes, clipart, animated GIFs etc. For me, this art is about being playful - regurgitating back what we are fed in our daily lives, exploring it, mocking it, celebrating the idiosyncrasies, humour and tackiness of the internet age. In his exhibition at the White Cube, Maid in Heaven / En Plein Air in Hell (My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Cheeto Problem) I visited in August, Parker does just that. In one room, chains and fluorescent lights hang down to meet vases of plastic flowers, among walls filled with pop art montages depicting iconic figures - everyone from chairman mao to bugs bunny. A widescreen TV plays Kanye West's music video for 'Bound 2' - an embodiment of 21st century internet tackiness. Parker's website (http://www.parkerito.com) also reflects this sense of tackiness-meets-irony, as animated cartoon flowers drip down the screen over arbitrary images purloined from the internet (such as the dancing palm trees below) and a muddled artist bio ('I LOVE ART HAHAHAHAHA')
Below are some excerpts from the accompanying writing to the exhibition, and a quote from the artist:
A dream for some a nightmare for others
It was a dark time for me. I was sleeping all day and staying up all night playing online chess in Internet cafes
I couldn’t find a high res jpeg of a smashed computer online anywhere, so I smashed my computer so I could take a photo of it.
You have to be hardcore
"I'M INTERESTED IN MAKING WORK THAT MIMICS THE MECHANISM OFTHE INTERNET ...I'M TRYING TO MAKE SOMETHING SO COMPLICATEDTHAT IT CAN'T BE UNDERSTOOD, SO TOTAL THAT YOU CAN NEVER ZOOM ALL THE WAY OUT."
A dream for some a nightmare for others
It was a dark time for me. I was sleeping all day and staying up all night playing online chess in Internet cafes
I couldn’t find a high res jpeg of a smashed computer online anywhere, so I smashed my computer so I could take a photo of it.
You have to be hardcore
"I'M INTERESTED IN MAKING WORK THAT MIMICS THE MECHANISM OFTHE INTERNET ...I'M TRYING TO MAKE SOMETHING SO COMPLICATEDTHAT IT CAN'T BE UNDERSTOOD, SO TOTAL THAT YOU CAN NEVER ZOOM ALL THE WAY OUT."