Jonathan McFadden: "I don't know why this posts twice?? Sorry."

Jonathan McFadden is the Assistant Professor of Printmaking in the School of Art & Visual Studies at the University of Kentucky. His print and installation work pulls its influence from social media outlets, specifically his neighborhood association’s Facebook Page and juxtaposed against imagery pulled from a variety of news sources as a means of balancing how social media acts as both Richard Stallman and Julian Assange put it, as a surveillance engine.

Artist Statement

"My work explores the deluge of ephemeral text and imagery presented by media and how this cacophony of imagery has altered our understanding of the globalized landscape it presents. The bombardment of information that streams on social media sites and news outlets create a sense of urgency that is intensely focused on the NOW. The often haste and theatric nature of media information elevates the impulsive reaction and dissuades from proper reflection.

Instead of representing a traditional narrative the consumption of information blurs from one source to another flowing from Facebook to Wikipedia to Reddit and other sources of information. This presents us with a fragmented narrative that is layer with preference to what is liked or voted up. Rather than representing this information as ephemeral my print and installation work uses this information to build a physical history built in the layers of information that makes up my visual aesthetic.  Blending issues that are viewed as “serious” with the vernacular of Twitter and Facebook I seek to create imagery that is indicative of contrast between what is considered trivial and significant."