robin rhode and the age-old question.

at the maryland art education association (maea) conference on friday, i was introduced to the work of robin rhode thanks to teresa roberts, who did a wonderful session on rhode's work as it can be applied to classroom art-making experiences involving flipbooks, stop motion animation, performance, and serial photography.

rhode's work frequently includes references to pop and material culture. the top image is part of a serial called "he got game," titled after the spike lee movie from 1998. the bottom, entitled "untitled, dream houses" (which you can click to enlarge!) shows rhode struggling to collect all manner of discarded physical belongings. he discusses his work as it relates to contemporary culture in the below video from the wexner art center:



coldplay's strawberry swing music video by the art collective shynola uses a similar technique and even touches on some similar themes, but music videos in and of themselves are often considered pieces of visual culture, rather than works of art:


NOTE: the "official" and higher-resolution version is infinitely more awesome, but has been blocked from being embedded. if you'd like to view that one, click here. this one'll get the point across, but man, the fancy version is unbelievable.

what makes one of these art versus culture? if visual culture is informing rhode's work, and rhode's artwork is (presumably) informing shynola's piece of visual culture, then... IT'S LIKE THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG.