“SomeGooglebody, someGooglewhere knows everyGooglething about everyGooglebody, all the Googlefuckingtime.” So says Mark Flood, an artist who for years now has taken aim at the absurdities and shortcomings of digital culture and its intersection. His latest work is no exception in its deconstruction of the intrusions and distortions wrought by the internet. Yet the Houston-born artist leavens his criticism with a refreshing wit, and with a broad-based perspective that keeps simplistic Luddite tendencies at bay. Aiming to exploit technology without being exploited, Flood explores its contemporary and historical associations across a range of media while retaining a vital flexibility and range.
In three large inkjet prints, Flood transforms the famous search engine’s logo into a set of multicolored smears, alluding to its near-seamless integration into—even production of—everyday life. Captured Serpent applies a similar strategy to the Deutsche Bank logo. More hands-on are two spray-paint–and-cardboard signs bearing the ambiguous slogans serve the community bitter and death/safe space, while a wall filled with pages from a scrapbook about Hollywood icon Greta Garbo recalls the obsessive nature of searching the web.
Finally, several paintings incorporating strips of lace present an ambiguous mash-up of crafts and their gendered associations. The inclusion of beaten-up sofas from which to contemplate these and other works in the show provides a wry finishing touch.