Why is Nyan Cat moving through winding Morris stems? In 2012, Toronto-based artist and curator Tobias Williams produced a series of silkscreened wallpapers bringing together classic internet memes with the Arts and Crafts designs of William Morris.
William Morris is a relevant reference point, especially at this time when digital art is so ubiquitous to the extent that it’s just among the wide variety of mediums a contemporary artist is engaged with. Morris was a total multi-hyphenate: artist, designer, printer, typographer, bookbinder, craftsman, poet, and writer. The artist-as-polymath is the current condition, especially at a time when digital practices are only just getting institutional recognition. To survive, you got to pull other rabbits out of the hat.
This series was originally mounted at Toronto’s Xpace Cultural Centre, a membership driven artist-run center supported by the Ontario College of Art and Design’s Student Union. The wallpapers were installed in the gallery, alongside screens showing the moving image works. Coincidentally, Williams is curating the artist-run center’s Spring exhibition programming, which will be presented in partnership with Images Festival and exploring diverse perspectives from artists that have come up in a digitally saturated world. The show opens March 18th.
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