“It has nothing to do with Vine. Vine is a paintbrush.”
But yes, we (#SVAES) sold two more Vines.
Ms. Kianga Ellis is based in Beacon and organizes experimental conceptual exhibitions. She is now the second official collector to acquire a Vine from the Shortest Video Ever Sold! #SVAES project and there will be others. She has never seen Yung Jake’s other work before. We watched http://e.m-bed.de/d/ in all its pop-up meta art-referencial super #swag glory. “It’s a snap shot of this moment,” Ellis says. “You can see it, if you’re not too steeped in it. It feels so current. I like the hip hop influence, the concept of ‘getting up’ is so fitting.” We talked about Yung Jake’s Datamosh and the augmented app he premiered at Sundance. Appropriately, his Vine-based video work’s title is an emoji for a four-leaf clover. That’s so internet. Also, it’s so beyond internet. It’s visceral, deliberate, funny, tight. Pluck it. Pluck it. So hypnotic.
(2013), Yung Jake, #SVAES. Collection of Kianga Ellis. vine.co/v/btYTzblMbuL
— Kianga Ellis (@Ms_Kianga) April 12, 2013
The first time my collaborator Kyle Chayka and I sold a Vine with Postmasters, it was Angela Washko’s Tits on Tits on Ikea. The artist received her $200 price money in its entirety. So will Yung Jake, shortly. We used a jailbroken phone and a Vine hack to upload Yung Jake’s piece to her iPhone so she could be the first to Tweet it. Ellis doesn’t even own an iPhone, but she does own the proverbial “dibs.” It’s ok. You’ll get used to it.
She also bought Marius Watz’s GCircAnim01E 011, but she’ll Vine and Tweet it when she choses to.
“Video art originated with artists getting excited about new technology. The nature of this art — ephemeral and intangible — is familiar to people, non-artists too.” In other words, everyone’s on Facebook. Or something. There’s a trend of “net” artists being made to make tangible work that worries Magda Sawon she says. Kianga Ellis is a big fan of the micro-economy utilizing ready-made social tools, like Vine. “Digital artists should be able to liberate themselves from this schizophrenia of ‘I can do this, but if I have to make money, I have to make objects totally disconnected from this practice.'” Conversely…
“Sick!” Yung Jake messages me. “I’m officially a digital artist.” He’s sold paintings before, but nothing since he’s being making digital work. Please, please make more digital work, Yung Jake! We <3 you.
“You can make a 6-second masterpiece or you can make junk,” Sawon reminds us. And yes, we have seen a lot of shit. But we have also seen great art. So make more art. Now. Forget the brand. Since our #SVAES was profiled by the Guardian, Tribeca Film Festival has also hopped on the Vine train but whatever: Kyle and I have yet to talk to Vine. They won’t answer our messages, but that’s totally fine with us. It is not about that. It’s about this.
(Photo: Marina Galperina/ANIMALNewYork)
