The New Aesthetic

 
   The New Aesthetic is something that I have known about without actually knowing that I know about it apparently.
   I'll admit I am a slave to technology. I love surfing the web on my iPad and using Facebook and Instagram to stay connected. I love the ease and quickness of sending and receiving an email. But that being said, I still think there is a quality of seeing and holding something physical that the New Aesthetic will never completely replace.
   Earlier in the week, Michelle Lassaline were discussing this topic. We both pointed out that we never really knew a world without computers. Both of us always remember having a computer in our homes. We also both noticed that we both intentionally make artwork that looks old; almost like an antique. We also discussed the popularity of Etsy.
   This led me to wonder why we both, only about a year a part in age create works that almost seem nostalgic for a past that we never really knew. My only thinking was that because we grew up in a world throttled with technology and computer imagery that we must have subconsciously backlashed against it, despite relying on it for other things in our daily lives. It also made me wonder that if two people, that don't know each other all that well came to these conclusions, than how many other young artists are also creating work like this as well. I plan to look at this in the years to come.
   Now back to the New Aesthetic. I'll admit I do not totally understand it, but of what I have seen and read and watched, I think I both like and dislike it at the same time.
   For example, I think it is my generation's version of Pop-Art, and this fascinates me. When James Bridle showed the images of people creating street art that is 8-Bit gaming imagery, I could easily place myself in my living room playing Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers with my older brothers. It was happy, simple, funny, all the things a good Pop-Art should be. There is nothing threatening about it in the least.
   On the other end, some of it freaks me the hell out. One of the posts I read on the Tumblr consisted of a pornography website that could match someones face to a those in a video, so that the viewer can pretend even further to be having sex with someone from their own reality or Things like A Day Made of Glass really push the boundaries of what we associate as reality and hyper-reality.
   I often have discussions with my boyfriend and roommates about topics like these. One of the topics that seems to always come back up is how far technology is going to push in our lives. Many of them think that one day what we know as human, won't be what we know as human today. We will be, in some part, mechanical. The details of this change per conversation. I am always the first one to be disgusted by the idea, but sadly I do not think that it is an impossibility.
   New Aesthetics as far as art in concerned, I am not sure how I read it, other than the Pop-Art I spoke of before. Digital media is an arena I've struggled to understand because it is so experimental and technical and I think the new aesthetics is part of that. I am not sure if this is going to be the Abstract Expressionism of my generation, but just as I will be looking into artists who intentionally create non-techy work, like Michelle and Me, I will also be looking to see how artists working in this genre shape the world, both artwise and culturally.