Art of the Millennial Generation: Showcasing Technological Influence

The 2009 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at Washington State University showcases five artists whose works all reflect the growing fragmented confusion of life in the twenty first century. Most of the artists utilize mixed media, a possible manifestation of their experiences growing up in the globalized digital culture. Their works are the logical continuation of the path the art world has taken towards digitized, non-linear, abstract pieces. Viewers of the exhibit who are not as aware of current art trends may find themselves confused and without a focal point to connect the varied art pieces, the influence of virtual and digital technology can be discovered with minimal effort, and elucidates the underlying themes of this exhibit.

Lauren McCleary’s large installation piece is one of the first artworks viewers to the exhibit encounter. While McCleary’s work inhabits one specific area without any defined boundaries, three pieces are actually combined seamlessly: Elephant Splat, Between Being, and Walk Wonder appear to be one overall piece. Viewers can essentially walk into the artwork, as it extends out from the walls and hangs down from the ceiling, but few do because of the respectful distance people are ingrained to leave between themselves and art. If viewers do choose to break the norm and walk into the art, they can look more closely and actually find the three blue elephants which reside in completely different areas; one lays on the floor, one is framed on the wall, and one is on a Styrofoam plaque hanging from the ceiling. The distinct separation of these three elephants reinforces the notion that the three art works are all interwoven together and cannot be separated. McCleary could be commenting on the way that modern life is a conglomeration of many disparate elements, and how with new technologies like iPhones and Twitter, parts of life that used to be compartmentalized are now blended together inseparably. McCleary’s piece is effective when considered in a cultural scope, despite the inherent confusion she creates for her viewers.

Other artists at the exhibit who create confusion are not as successful because their purpose is never explicated, and viewers are left entirely up to guesswork. Tobias Walther’s Sailor is one such piece. Sailor consists of two side-by-side television screens showing black-and-white images of the Palouse hills and various other scenes around Pullman. Random images are flashed in an almost subliminal way, combined with periodic flashes from a concealed camera. The heavy breathing of the unseen cameraman as he runs up and down the hills is the only narration. This confusing mix of elements combined with the seemingly non-sequitur title, gives viewers nothing in which to ground their understanding of this piece. As Sailor is Walther’s only piece at the exhibit, viewers cannot examine his other works to attempt to draw comparisons. Walther’s piece again showcases the impact the digital and technological advances of the past decades are having on the art world, though no other meaning can be derived.

Brad Dinsmore and Dustin Price also both utilize mixed media, creating abstract pieces which can be very confusing but reflect the growing anxiety and digitized culture of modern America. These two artists present the most varied types of work, showcasing broad experimentation on many levels. The fifth artist, Heather Losey McGeachy, has the most traditional looking art, which seems to fit in the least with the other artists’ work in the exhibit. However, McGeachy’s artist statement shows that she, too, was influenced by technology. She says she felt “compelled… to seek out the difference and similarities between virtual and physical worlds” as “the boundaries between physical and digital life [continue] to blur.” Obviously all of these artists’ works, while exploring various mediums and messages, reflect the great influence technology has had on their lives.

To top off this thorough connection to the digital world, a “Second Life” of the Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition itself was displayed near the entrance to the exhibit. “Second Life” is a virtual world within a website similar to “The Sims,” which allows people to experience an altered reality through the internet. This is almost a meta-commentary on the exhibit’s purpose: a virtual world depicts the exhibit which reflects the growing influence of the virtual world on the artists showcased in the exhibit. Plato would be greatly disturbed by this trend in art, as artists are actually embracing imitation of the virtual digital world and using it to construct pieces which speak back to their technological origins. If this exhibit can be seen as a microcosm of the current state of the art world at large, works into the second decade of the century will continue to reflect digital culture, mosaic thought, mixed media, confusion, and buried messages as the Millennial generation grows up and brings its contributions forward.