Yesterday I had the pleasure of going on a tour of some of New York’s most renowned art galleries. (For those who are curious, the tour took us through 7 galleries in the famous Chelsea art district.) What struck me was the fact that roughly half of the works were one form or another of what we commonly refer to in the online world as…“the mashup.” One example is artist, Matthew Cusick, who cuts up multiple maps and reassembles them to replicate an image from nature. (Note his beautiful interpretation of a wave above – the blue pieces were taken from the oceans we see on a world map.)
However, the German artist, Martin Denker, may be more representative of the modern mashup wizard: rather than physically cutting anything, he finds, appropriates and develops his own pieces completely from his computer. According to our guide, Martin doesn’t actually create any of the individual elements from scratch – if you look closely at his various pieces (see example above), you’ll find images as diverse as a golf course in Dubai to a certain Mario Brothers video game character.
I think what’s interesting is what this new wave of mashup artists tells us about how we now view “art” generally: when some of the finest galleries in New York are showcasing these artists, you know the mashup has reached near full acceptance as something “worthy” in society. (I say “near acceptance” as major museums seem more reluctant to show these types of work.)
Of course, the mashup has existed in various art forms for many years. Hip hop artists – the Beastie Boys are a great example – have been “re-appropriating”(a.k.a “sampling”) other people’s music for at least twenty five years. And, “pop artists” such as Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol rose to fame in the early ‘60s using a similar approach. Who can forget the comic book strips Lichtenstein used as the basis for his art, including one of my personal favorites featuring the line “I Don’t Care! I’d rather sink…than call Brad for help!”
However, while the mashup has been with us for many years, what’s new is its sheer pervasiveness today, whether we’re speaking of artists working on canvas, in music, and increasingly, in the form of video. And, I think there’s little doubt that digital technologies have been the impetus behind the explosion of mashups both in terms of those that allow us to create (e.g. video and photo editing tools) as well as share (e.g. Youtube.) As technology continues to advance, the mashup seems destined to become an ever greater part of our daily lives.
Andy Warhol would have been proud.
