Michael Manning
(American, b.1985)
Michael Manning is a prolific post-Internet artist whose practice pushes the realms of digital art.
Turning the humble jpeg into a radical artform, Manning gathers his 'real-but-fake' materials from 3D warehouses on the Internet. Pushing the boundaries of these oxymoronic images, Manning explores the relationship between technology and analog. His prolific output only exemplifies the ever expanding distribution of information on the Internet and his works hold almost a nostalgic air for those who are well versed in early computer programs.
Manning first became obsessed with creating this new aesthetic through small scale experimentation on smart phones and tablets. The digital sphere in which he worked expanded when he encountered Microsoft's large touch screen desktops, the stores of which he turned into his quasi-private studios.
Manning's works have since moved from the digital realm and materialised into 3D prints, blurring the gap between the digital and the concrete; the osmosis of these two domains questioning our relationship with the physicality of what is real and what is not.
