Valery Grancher ([email protected])

"Webpaintings" after net.art: post net.art and post paintings
New era ? New age ?


Introduction:

We cannot talk about the interaction in between language concept and visual art without thinking about the early conceptual artist. The idea of using language concept as a visual art material was largely explorered by artist like Bernar Venet (mathematic equation), Lawrence Weiner who used in his installation sentences, Art and language who were mixing painting and language concept and so on, so on…
On the other hand at the same time, some artist have more focused about the media omnipresence in daily life in their productions : Warhol, Johns, Beuys and many others.
Also Nam June Paik was dealing with these concept in his very early video pieces. We have to know that later some of them were teaching and some student will define the next step:
Rainer Ganahl was a student of Paik and Peter Weibel…
Miltos Manetas, even he's not dealing directly with 70's concept, has focused to the early artist of this decade:
"I soon realized that I preferred watch my paintings on the web instead than look at the real thing and influenced by an Internet term, the word "mirror site", I decided that I should start doing the same thing in many different plateaux: a multipersona, that illustrates different realities and not an exceptional identity such as Andy Warhol and Beuys weres. This is not a new discovery, Borges already previewed it, and I just decided to apply it. In Borges terms, I am a "viewer" more than an "artist" (he also consider himself more than a writer a reader)." (Stefani Chiodi interview)


1- Prehistory of webpaintings:

On early 80's and 90's some artist has dealt with computer concept and screen both on visual level and conceptual level. They did it at least ten years before internet age !
First we have to think about Peter Halley who was inspired by the chipset and electronic stuff like mother board for his neo-geo abstract paintings produced at the end of the eighties.
Rainer Ganahl and Miltos Manetas have started very soon to deal with computer iconology and environment. Miltos has more dealt with the video game, the computer entertainment revolution and its iconology. Rainer Ganahl has more focused on language concept regarding computer by using the interface metaphor:
Rainer has used the guidelines metaphor* He has dealt with it at the age when France was connected to network through minitel !!! (early 80's)
For sure rainer Ganahl is according to me a crazy genius who has opened this door in visual art.
Surf on these links to see how terrific are these pieces !
-http://www.ganahl.info/magers1990.html on 1990 with catalog and reviews
1993: An important text by Rainer Ganahl: "INTERFACIAL PASSAGES 1993"
-http://www.ganahl.info/t_intefaces.html
1992 view of an installation at Dalllas Art museum:
-http://www.ganahl.info/dma_dallasmuseumofart.html
You may check also his first ever one person show only on the web at thing.net:
1992 NY - trash can and other computer items
-http://www.ganahl.info/nordan92.html
1996: "les ateliers" in Marseille, France
-http://www.ganahl.info/lesatelier96.html
Kwangju Biennial, Korea, 1997 commissioned by Harald Szeemann
-http://www.ganahl.info/s_ex_kwangju.html
Without Rainer Ganahl, the idea of using computer iconology directly in visual art would never emerge !
On 1995 another artist called Philip Pocock has printed out a whole website for 'photography after photography' show. On 1996 he did an email reading performance in Berlin with email slide show.
At this time, the web interface has not emerged. We can see that these previous work were so closed to webpaintings concept for one simple reason: both of them are dealing with interface iconology. But the web interface is just the son of the computer operating system interface. I have to say if you are just focusing about this point,you are missing another point. Because webpaintings are also dealing with painting iconology and not only computer interface…

*J.C Licklider 1905 -1990 was one of the founder of the internet ancestor called arpanet. He has invented the concept of visual interface for computers. Engelbart has conceived on 1964 the first computer mouse to interact with the computer, Licklider got the idea to use it to interact with his visual interface. He did this great job on early seventies. At the Begining of the eighties he got in the Xerox parc the visit of two major personalities in computer industry: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. We can say today that without Licklider 'windows' software would never exist, and the mac interface would never exist also. By conceiving this kind of interaction with computer on visual level with visual interface and mouse he has defined the concept of "HMI": Human and machine interaction. The visual interface conceived by Licklider to interact with computer program has brought the concept of what we call today 'guidelines':
For example the main guidelines in Apple system is the apple icon.
The icons abd menu in windows software are also guidelines. They help the computer interactor to navigate in the software.


2- Webpaintings:

Webpaintings project has started on 1998. It is copied worldwilde. It has influenced various international artist !
I am very pleased to see that this idea and concept are starting a new kind of revolution in artworld worldwilde:
First I was directly influenced by the great german artist Blank and Jeron who did 'dumb your trash" on 1997:
They are making sculptures on marble from webpages:
http://sero.org/dyt/
Second I was influenced by the great greek artist Miltos Manetas with his computer and wires paintings:
http://www.manetas.com/splash/index.htm
1997, Alexei Shulgin, a russian artist conceived a project called "desktop": everybody has to make a snapshot of their desktop on their personnal computer and sent it to to this website as a photo. I like this project because this is not painting, this is not off line art, but it is defining computer iconolgy as a personnal landscape:
-http://www.easylife.org/desktop/
So I started on december 1997 - january 1998 the "Pump your page" project in Paris:
http://www.nomemory.org/pump/index2.html
and the same year I initiated the "webpaintings" project in Japan and California (San Francisco):
http://www.nomemory.org/webpaint
George Pusenkoff, since 1998 has made also webpaintings (carylic on canvas):
He's showing in the same gallery than Philip Pockok in Cologne: galerie Brigitte Schenk…
-http://www.gif.ru/images/doc/c222257-mona2000.jpg
-http://www.gif.ru/images/doc/c222256-marlyn.jpg
-http://www.gif.ru/images/doc/c26530-b.jpg
On 1999 Carlo Zanni sent me an email to show me his great paintings dealing with famous software logo, icons (adobe, mp3…). He started to produce them at the begining of 1999:
http://www.zanni.org/html/paintings.htm
On 1999 Ola Pehrson did a terrific installation, one of my favourite called "Desktop":
http://www.olapehrson.com/desktop/index.html
This installation is confronting computer icons as sculptures, the screen backgroung as a wall painting. Physical space and virtuality are confronted by streaming on real time through a webcam a view of this installtion: on the screen a new windows 95 screen is appearing !
In Russia a painter and stage designer friend of Olia Lialina called Masha Boriskina painted http://www.rhizome.org screen on paper with pencil and gouache (2000): A terrific drawing.
http://art.teleportacia.org/exhibition/masha/
Then on 2001 after the big and crazy emergence of google, I perceived it as the perfect new internet icon and I produced in Miltos Manetas place (electronic orphanage) in Los Angeles the "google painting" (september 2001):
http://www.nomemory.org/webpaint/data/googleoil.htm
Shown in Paris France then in Artsonje center in Seoul and Gwangjyu ("less ordinary" show) on 2002 in south Korea.
On 2003, this painting was shown in paris and then on may 2004 was sold in a prestigious auction house in Paris France called Tajan to a private collector at a very good price (not cheap but expensive !)
On 2002 the british artist Thomson and Craighead produced an e-bizness:
http://www.dot-store.com
dealing with 'off line' net art pieces: one of them is "google tea towels" which is a best seller:
http://www.dot-store.com/pages/teatowels.html
I have bought all the four for my personnal collection, this is really one of the best webpaintings I have ever seen !!!
Still on 2002 Miltos Manetas has done a great and amazing project called "internet paintings":
http://www.manetas.com/internetpaintings/
On 2003 exonemo (japanese group based in Tokyo) has produced a project called "Natural process flow" by mixing and copying two pieces of two artist:
"Desktop" 1999 by Ola Pehrson, and "Google paintings" by me:
"Natural process flow": http://www.exonemo.com/NP/indexE.html
shown on begining 2004 at Mori Art Museum and sold to google on May 2004 very cheap and they are proud of it.
On 2004 i initiated the "nomemory bazaar" project:
http://www.nomemorybazaar.com
A new pop has emerged with famous website screens and logos. They are today painted on canvas: So I decided to produce common objects dealing with this iconography (unlimited edition).

We can see that through this time line a great revolution is starting and may be subject of a terrific collective show including all of these artists with a great catalog !


Valery Grancher July 2004