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"Little Viral Things", iPhone 6S, 2017
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"Celebrities Who Were Raised in Cults", iPhone 6S, 2017
Exhibition
'Promoted Stories' by Adrian Pocobelli
1 Feb 2017 – 7 Feb 2017
Event times
Feb. 1-7
Cost of entry
Free
Address
- Torstraße 170
- Berlin
Berlin - 10115
- Germany
Travel Information
- S bahn Hackesher Markt, S bahn Oranienburger Strasse, U bahn Rosenthaler Platz
Using an iPhone 6S, Pocobelli recontextualizes some of the trashiest corners of the internet, with a special focus on the promoted tabloid links found underneath news articles on most major media websites.
About
Heavy on schadenfreude, these 'news stories' reveal an unsettling fascination with deformities, aging celebrities, sexual taboos, weird diet advice, the fear of disease and more, exposing some of the darker, more voyeuristic aspects of the psyche. As Pocobelli says, "The more trashy, the more profound. The zeitgeist lives in these images and headlines."
Pocobelli believes that ‘mobile art’ is one of the most exciting new areas for contemporary art makers. “The camera, the capacity to take screenshots, as well as ever changing apps for painting, drawing and editing images are creating a new aesthetic that is developing organically from the smartphone.”
The portability also provides a liberation from the isolation and confines of the traditional art studio. “[Mobile artists] would work from coffee shops, bars or subways, uploading finished works to the internet for immediate global distribution while they travel in foreign cities. Some might remix each other’s works that they find online, while others might prefer to work, like the Impressionists, en plein air, replacing the easel, paintbox and canvas with processed photos, and painting and image editing apps.”
The high speed in which work can be made on a smartphone also provides the ability to create a real-time visual commentary on contemporary culture, as an op-ed columnist might write about the day’s news events. According to Pocobelli, “Mobile art represents an opportunity for contemporary art to become more accessible to the masses, while still maintaining the potential to be high concept, relevant and challenging.”
Adrian Pocobelli is a Berlin-based artist from Toronto, Canada, where he began exhibiting paintings in group shows in 2013. This is his first mobile art exhibition and solo show. He has also written an unpublished book on The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard.
www.adrianpocobelli.com
www.instagram.com/pocobelli
www.facebook.com/pocobelli
www.twitter.com/pocobelli
