Artist Shawn Huckins is a hyper-realist and found object painter, exploring the relationship between what it means to live in the digital era, versus what it meant to live in the 18th and 19th century. His paintings are used as jumping-off points for conversations, in the hope that they will begin to talk about something that actually matters, escaping this form of “digital speak” that society is encapsulated in. This painting, Raftsmen Playing Cards, is currently displayed at Modernism in San Francisco. Taking George Bingham’s 1847 painting, Raftsmen Playing Cards, Huckins repainted it and superimposed a found tweet on top of the appropriated painting. The colors of the painting, therefore, were not his own choice directly. Huckins enhanced …show more content…
Seeing that this statement is directly taken off of Twitter, its origin becomes the contemporary media. In the past, American culture was primarily illustrated by art visualizing the “American Dream”. Today, there are many factors shaping our culture which include, but are not limited to: internationalism, the digital sphere, varied art forms, and language. Allowing this image of cultural reality to overshadow what was contextualized by American culture, Huckins strategically blocks out part of the old. The painting allows this claim to be visually communicated via Huckins’ placement of the white lettering. This adds a sense of blankness evoking the notion that something is missing from the background, which is representative of our old culture. Filling the gaps has become the digitization of our culture today. Instead of blending into what was previously in place, the white lettering stands out, making itself known to those observing