Blake Shell

Artist Statement

Keywords:

The digital world with all of its loved and hated qualities is the greatest example of altered communication to date. It is used for all purposes, from the silliest to the most shockingly dangerous. The Internet is a method of communication, reflecting humanity and all of its subcultures, as well as a catalyst for new ways of thinking and living.

I appropriate images and text from the Internet. This means that while I have chosen to combine elements together and to change them as I see fit, they were already in existence previously. This mirrors the very process of the Internet, the accessibility of sampling other work and the new creation that comes from recombining. We take the pieces from others and combine them to make our own world. In my work this process comes full circle, recombining what I have found to reflect the nature of the Internet itself.

Blake Shell Bio

Blake Shell is currently the Gallery Director for the University of Arizona School of Art, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Photography for the University.

Blake Shell's art has been noticed for its unusual combination of text and imagery from the Internet. Her fascination with the Internet, and its position as a catalyst for new ways of thinking and living, has resulted in remarkable artworks. Her work has recently been shown alongside the works of Bill Viola and Nam June Paik, visualizing the progression from seminal video artists to a new generation of digital artists.