![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Betamale-DollMASK-e1443774586553.jpg\")
Jon Rafman, Still Life (Betamale), video still, 2013. Courtesy of the arist<\/p>\n Jon Rafman, Still Life (Betamale), video still, 2013. Courtesy of the arist<\/p>\n
The internet can be a daunting place. Link after link, tab upon tab, it\u2019s easy to get lost in its vortex of useless information and infinite supply of gifs. However, for post-internet artist Jon Rafman, such infinite scrolling is how he finds inspiration. \u201cI see the online world as my material, the same way a painter would use colours and paint. Nothing is created from scratch anymore \u2013 everything is created from something else,\u201d he says.
\nHowever, the Quebecois artist doesn\u2019t like using the word appropriation to describe his work, nor does he see it as digital readymades. Once he has spent hours mining the internet and selecting images for his installations, he then spends time editing them and adding structure, narratives, dialogue and sometimes his own voiceovers.<\/p>\n
![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/A-Man-Digging-Video-Still1-e1443774597411.jpg\")
Jon Rafman, A Man Digging, video still, 2013. Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n
And although the content uploaded to the internet might sometimes seem chaotic, disparate and even irrelevant, Rafman\u2019s skill lies in highlighting its aesthetic potential, like a poet who finds beauty where others don\u2019t, except Rafman doesn\u2019t find art in the least expected places \u2013 he makes art with the least expected materials.\u201cI actually started off by making films and basically started using the internet as an extension of my practice,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat I find most interesting is how different forms of content can be uploaded to different platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/JR_NewAgeDemandedMazemanBlack14_view1-e1443774924929.jpg\")
Jon Rafman, New Age Demanded (Future Angel Racer), 2014. Copyright the artist. Courtesy of Zabludowicz Collection and Feuer\/Mesler, New York<\/p>\n
This fascination is embedded in his oeuvre which inevitably means dealing with issues relating to intellectual property. Yet when it comes to copyright Rafman isn\u2019t so interested in the law but in the way in which internet culture deals with it. Nonetheless after he tried to publish a book featuring images from Google Street View, he had a brush with the possibility of legal action. \u201cThey never really authorised me to use their images,\u201d he says. \u201cBut once National Geographic asked me if they could show one of Google\u2019s images in their magazine \u2013 and since they were a big enough organisation \u2013 they were able to get it signed off by Google under the precondition that we wouldn\u2019t show any violent imagery and that under the picture of the beautiful running reindeer it was stated that \u2018no animals were harmed during the shooting.\u2019\u201d
\nThe book in question was the eponymously named first monograph from his ongoing Google Street View project (GSV) \u201c9 Eyes\u201d that he began in 2007 and which consists of unusual images lifted from the app. Captured by cameras fixed to Google\u2019s Street View cars, there\u2019s an element of voyeurism to these images. And because the photos are taken during the day, they capture contrasting demographics and scenes in absolute clarity, from office drones to sex workers to policemen in action and tigers roving in car parks.<\/p>\n
![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Jon-Rafman-3-e1443797891849.jpg\")
Jon Rafman, portrait by Dan Wilton<\/p>\n
Subjects on the fringes of mainstream society are one of the themes of Rafman\u2019s work. \u201cI\u2019m interested in the internet troll: obsessive and shut in,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me they are like modern day tragic heroes. They represent a certain pole of existence that tells us something about ourselves. They\u2019re often rude and offensive but sometimes their criticism is also revealing.\u201d Jon Rafman, Still Life (Betamale), video still, 2013. Courtesy of the arist The internet can be a daunting place. Link after link, tab upon tab, it\u2019s easy to get lost in its vortex of useless information and infinite supply of gifs. However, for post-internet artist Jon Rafman, such infinite scrolling is how he finds inspiration….<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":25267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11856,139],"tags":[3386,3387,1096,3388,2410,1031,3389,3390,3391,2414,3392,2379,1756],"class_list":["post-25191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleek-art","category-art","tag-9-eyes","tag-akihiko-taniguchi","tag-digital-art","tag-google","tag-internet-art","tag-jon-rafman","tag-manga","tag-national-geographic","tag-pop-culture","tag-post-internet","tag-troll","tag-will-furtado","tag-zabludowicz-collection"],"acf":{"main_category":null,"legacy":"1","exclude_from_ads":null,"hero_title":null,"subtitle":null,"hero":null,"teasers":null,"facebook_image":null,"related_articles":null,"next_article":null,"sleek_card_focus":null,"content":null},"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe full feature can be found in Sleek #47<\/a>, our current issue, which you can order hier<\/a>.<\/strong> \nText von Will Furtado<\/a><\/strong> \nJon Rafman’s solo exhibition at London’s Zabludowicz Collection<\/a> is on display from 8 October until 20 December. The preview<\/a> takes place on 7 October
\n<\/strong> \nMehr: Ordnung aus dem Chaos: Interview mit Camille Henrot<\/a><\/strong> \nMehr: Right Time, Right Place: Skagen Store Opens in Copenhagen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"