Curatorial Statement

The artists in Pieces of Me are known for their explorations of identity, being, and phenomenology in digitally-mediated realities. Together, these artists represent a critical survey of the past, present and future of ‘digital art’. In their works, avatars and identities are performed to explore our myriad modes of existence. These pieces serve as substrate for the thirsty, iterative cycles of technology. They question and subvert the exclusionary subtext of the softwares and systems that rule our day-to-day.

Unfamiliar objects and artifacts appear as virtual trinkets, totems or talismans; initiated renderers perform rites and rituals to offer alternatives to the contextual void brought about by this dystopian era of hype. Shiny renders, memes, filth, jokes, machinima, abstraction, intimacy and embodiment polymerize into a sprawling aesthetic that extends backwards and forwards, as a reflection on this moment.

For each artist, transacting with intention means something different. Some--like Cassie McQuater and Alice Yuan Zhang, offer their work for free – it is not for sale – an explicit rejection of the capitalist urge to consume. Others, like Isaac Kariuki and Rosa Menkman, rejects NFTs, but find value in offering the work as a traditional gallery acquistion. Artists such as Serwah Attafuah, Travess Smalley and Lorna Mills, are ready to grab this moment by the horns to embrace new modes of exchange wholeheartedly. Others introduce new parameters and intention into the act of collecting; pieces by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, aaajiao, Auriea Harvey, Keiken, and Molly Soda, push the boundaries of the social aspects of blockchain transactions and pose critical questions about how to exchange, retain, and contract around their work.

We all wear accessories, adornments, costumes, and decorations to experience ourselves; and we’ve put these parts of our souls into the network. These pieces are inextricably linked to who we are and what we believe in. This show is presented as a hopeful look towards a more thoughtful market beyond the one that arose too quickly, and without care. Pieces of Me is a gilded sacrifice–a token of favor; or dowry from the ivory tower to the proclaimed knight in shining armor–to help shape what could grow into a more regenerative, historically robust, and thoughtfully stewarded cultural value system.

- Wade Wallerstein
Director, TRANSFER
Founder, Silicon Valet