Shawn Huckins combines Internet culture and 18th- and 19th- century style portraits in his work. He offers a new collection of large acrylic paintings in “Athenaeum (I Can’t Pretend That This Is Poetry,” an upcoming show at Seattle’s Foster/White Gallery. The artist was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 32, and he was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
“‘Athenaeum’ series explores 18th and 19th century American painting and photography in context of 21st century lexicons – Facebook status updates, tweets, texting acronyms – that permeate today’s popular culture,” an artist’s statement says. “The process is a methodical replication of the original work, each painted by hand followed by the superimposition of large white letters, also painted, of social media jargon.”
The artist’s upcoming show runs Oct. 5-21. For this collection of pieces, the artist offers this musing to ponder: “The American Revolution and The American Frontier were conceived through an exchange of a few well-formed ideas communicated in person and by handwritten letters. Imagine what Lewis & Clark could have done with the internet while exploring the American west.”
