Like MARK

The obsession of collecting friends from the past, the present and even those people you may never actually meet in the future, who remain virtual personas with a digital presence alone, is a challenge of sorts that has been limited to 5000. Why is this the cast in an age when the world is our platform and our ability for connections is unlimited? Does social media aim at building networks and a collective understanding of the world around us, or does it simply showcase imagery that feeds the conquest to be liked by many, while really knowing only a few? Does the subtlety of affective relations take on the mechanical feel of those transactions, or is there something more authentic and unpredictable that happens when we share the events of our lives in real-time? Is tracking our own popularity a new obsession, or is Facebook in a period of decline as a new generation looks toward smaller more intimate networking experiences in order to overcome the exposure and anonymity and the type of data-mining associated with large social networks like Facebook?

This exhibitiono examines all these questions in an effort to understand how Facebook operates as a political, social, and commercial phenomenon, all inside an analog gallery space. When reality and fantasy are mixed in the age of avatars and celebutants, we have to ask questions not only about re-presentation, but also about how we are all entering into a ‘curatorial condition’ of the self. “Like Mark” is both an example of horizontal crowd-sourcing as an exhibition event and a moment that allows us to look at varied interpretations of how we represent ourselves and others in an era where life is lived as a series of “status updates”.

This exhibition will include pseudo voyeuristic and realistice painted portraits of Mark Zuckerberg. There will also be an installation of portraits, or “profile pictures”, made from multiple, 15″ x 15″ panels that were supplied by the art gallery. All of these images will have been painted from the local arts community as an example of the power of social networks.

Artists: Bill Amundson, F. Scott Hess, Julio Labra, Carolin Peters, Tony Pinto, Serena Potter, Kerri Sabine-Wolf, Bradford J. Salamon, Ray Turner, Marinus Welman, William Wray

Including another 60+ artists that are part of a larger installation of “Profile Pictures”.