Just in case you don’t speak text short-hand, 2G2B4G = too good to be forgotten. Which very aptly describes the work of today’s artist, Denver’s Shawn Huckins. The artist’s current series, An American Revolution Revolution combines 18th Century American portraiture with 21st Century lexicons such as tweet and text acronyms, creating diverting and provocative images.
Like the historical portraits he uses in his work, the text slang has become a part of our own period in history. Will we still be using this jargon to communicate in a hundred years? Or will future generations look back and see us as stodgy, stuffy, and hopelessly formal? Hard to believe that we could denigrate any further than we have, but perhaps our ancestors thought they were just as hip and happening as we believe ourselves to be.
My first thought when looking at this series was similarities between traditional portraiture, often created as a remembrance of a certain person for a special occasion, and our modern obsession with texting and tweeting, and the impressions and memories of ourselves we are creating.
I’m not sure I would want to be remembered for my texts. Would you? To see more of Shawn Huckins’ work, please visit his website.
All images are via the artist’s website.
