DON'T @ ME

featuring Pastiche Lamumba

DON'T @ ME represents an art practice based on the combination of paintings, sculptural objects and internet memes by Pastiche Lumumba and features work by Nandi Loaf, Zach Fox and Jenson Leonard. 

Pastiche Lumumba’s sculptural work focuses on context and how the meaning of artifacts and behaviors changes in different environments, particularly regarding identity. His current social media handle, @Art21savage combines the title of the PBS series “Art 21” which profiles 21st century artists and the Atlanta rapper 21 Savage. This combination situates the artist’s practice at the intersection of fine art and “low” culture. It is also a nod to his critical analysis of contemporary culture often taking a decidedly incisive (“savage”) tone on the internet by distilling the most salient insights through witty memes.

The exhibition manifests the ethos of discursive internet culture and critical pettiness through physical objects in real life, in the fine art context which is normally saddled with repressive formality. One such formality—although it is frequently bent to the whims of appropriation artists—is individual authorship, which is inherently antithetical to memetic production. As such, this solo exhibition features a selection of other supporting artists, like a mixtape or album made by a musician.