A day or 2 ago, musician/songwriter, Kimya Dawson used her Facebook account to ask her friends to finally fill her in about what the term “meta” meant, so that she could enter the new year with a better comprehension of its usage.  The fact that I’m about to utilize my own electronic outlet to publish a preview of various jpeg images representing works by a selection of contemporary artists with a growing influence in their fields in an attempt to promote an upcoming art exhibit that’s being curated by the founder of another site that focuses on promoting the work of said artists and their contemporaries based on the concept that they are part of a movement/era that have, themselves, been naturally influenced by the accessibility, casual interactions, and all out bombardment of the works of others via the internet and electronic outlets, as well as being influenced by the nature and intrinsic qualities of the mediums and outlets themselves… well… it just brings that whole “meta” Facebook thread back to mind, that’s all.

Cultural shifts are like those of tectonic plates in the way that they adjust everything around them–if you’re closer to the epicenter it’s clearly more noticeable, but the less immediately detectable and further separated effects are still present.  These days the work of underground contemporary artists like street artists, low brow, illustrators, pop surrealist, what have you, has become much more widely embraced and desirable to collectors and art aficionados than it had been in the not so distant past.  As the interest grows, the various avenues to present such works, whether through print media or in person through galleries, etc. increases along with it.  But what about the influence from the publications themselves and how they, in turn, feed back into the community that inspired them, that they are representing, and that they thrive on in the first place?  While much of this art may have been considered amateurish, ignorant, or altogether dismissed by elitist art snobs in the past, simply based on subject matter and/or medium, regardless of undeniable skill or pure emotional content, the lack of outlets to showcase such talents was a clearly and even larger detriment to it’s growth.  Therefore, it would stand to reason that, as the exposure grows, the number of people influenced by it could grow exponentially, and the pool of talent contributing their own voices to contemporary art movements would too increase, not to mention amplifying the level of talent involved.  If there’s been one technological advance in recent decades that has had the ability to provide an increased amount of information at an accelerated rate with wider distribution, it would obviously have to be the internet and electronic media.

This ability of electronic media to influence artists, as well as the artists’ ability to influence the media and each other through it, is a concept that has played an essential role in artist/curator/HI-Fructose magazine contributor, Zach Tutor‘s creation of his highly successful Supersonic Electronic art Tumblr page.  Tutor describes the project as, “an Art Tumblr that seeks to chronicle the rise of” what he refers to as “the Electronic School of contemporary art.”  Tomorrow night San Francisco‘s Spoke Art gallery will host their second annual Supersonic Electronic Invitational, entirely curated by Tutor as somewhat of a physical manifestation and continuation of the digital curation that he’s performed through one of the most prominent blogging platform’s of current times.  And so… it all comes full circle.

The following is Zach Tutor‘s official statement regarding the event

“The 32 artists in this years Supersonic Electronic Invitational were chosen not only for their outstanding ability to create dynamic art but also for their position as innovators at the forefront of a generation of artists. Artists whose lives have been saturated with visual ephemera and who have had access to endless amounts of inspiration via the Internet.”

“This area of the contemporary art scene is what the Supersonic Electronic website seeks to chronicle, the rise of a movement which sees artists blurring the lines between multitudes of genres into a single, pluralistic whole. These 32 artists are ones whom I feel are the greatest examples of this merging, through their extreme talent and their unique abilities at creating stunning and compelling works of art.”

Participating artists include:

Alessandra Maria, Allan Innman, Andrew Hem, Angie Wang, Audrey Kawasaki, Barnaby Ward, Brett Amory, Cam Floyd, Casey Weldon, Charmaine Olivia, Conrad Roset, Dan Christofferson, Erik Jones, James Jirat Patradoon, Jason Levesque, Jeremy Enecio, Joao Ruas, Jon Todd, Ken Garduno, Michael C. Hsuing, Mike Mitchell, Nimit Malavia, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Scott C., Seamus Conley, Soey Milk, Steve Kim, Tatiana Suarez, Tessar Lo, Tina St. Claire, Tom Bagshaw and Zoltron

Check out the preview images after the following event details…

WHAT:

“The 2nd Annual Supersonic Electronic Invitational“
Curated by Zach Tutor of SupersonicElectronic.com

WHEN:

Opening Reception:
Thursday, January 3rd
6pm-10pm

(exhibit runs until Saturday the 26th)

WHERE:

ADDITIONAL INFO:

The Spoke Art gallery is open from Wed-Sat  from 12pm – 6pm

The first 50 attendees to at the opening will receive a complimentary signed and numbered mini print by contributing artist Mike Mitchell.

RSVP to the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/135867639904130/

[click images to enlarge]

Alessandra Maria

“Untitled”

Watercolor, Ink, Graphite, Gold Leaf, Gesso, Chalk
27″ x 20″
$1500

Andrew Hem

“Bring Home the Bacon”

Mixed Media on Panel
20″ x 29.5″
$4500 (ON HOLD)

Audrey Kawasaki

“Just the Two of Us”

Acrylic on panel, framed
22.5″ x 22.5″
$10,000 SOLD

Casey Weldon

“Prowess”

Acrylic on masonite
16″ x 20″
$900SOLD

Joao Ruas

“Le Sacre du Printemps X – ‘Terre’”

Graphite on Paper, Vellum and Acetate
11.4” x 14.6” $3200 SOLD

Erik Jones

“The Dipped Queen”

Watercolor, Pencil, Acrylic, Water soluble oils
26” x 38”
$2000

Sam Wolfe Connelly

“And Then It’s Morning”

Graphite/White Charcoal on Paper
11” x 14”
SOLD

Soey Milk

“Three Times”

Oil and Silver Leaf on Canvas
24” x 36”
$3000

Dan Christofferson

“The Gentleman Lord of Everything”

Acrylic on Canvas
20” x 24”
$1300

James Jirat Patradoon

“Thanatos”

Ultrachrome Pigmented Inks on Vintage Wallpaper
20” x 28”
$200