Mchael Samyn has something with Net art, whatever that may be. Yes, well, Samyn is actually just an artist who is so bored with museum and gallery art that he would rather work on the computer and hang out on the Net. He thus almost inevitably makes Net art, and no matter how burdened that word is, he makes something of it. If you don't know what, take a look at his work. Samyn, thanks to his years of experience, ranks not only as grand-maÓtre, this chronicler and avant-gardist of Net art also invented it. He started out as an 'plain' graphics artist who understood that it was all happening in the digital world - and he was hooked for good. Those who were there when he started out can see now that he still has that artist's hand. This is of course not always to be commended, but it is simply how Samyn is, and it is precisely those escapades from his own destiny that keep his work so vivid. His is an artistic position that mixes kitsch and art in a form that lends character to the Internet. Nowadays Samyn always works with his American associate Auriea Harvey. Nevertheless, Samyn's signature is present everywhere here on the 'Entropy8zuper' site. It is a distinctive, almost melancholic traditional atmosphere one could call Flemish, but that would not be fair to Samyn's personal touch. It is as playful as it is cheeky, as discerning as it is coarse, as speeded up as it is slowed down, in short it exudes an atmosphere of wilfulness but without completely avoiding today's artistic needs. Not as a compromise, but as an experiment which is always being taken further. And this all happens partly in Flash, the artistic 'art' program from the California firm Macromedia that is gradually dominating the visual atmosphere of the Net. True, a terribly interesting program, but I am not one of its fans. Even if only because it is becoming so overpowering that all Net art is starting to look the same. For the Flash software is like an artistic lawnmower imposing a swift, equalizing haze on all self-willed and personal ideas and forms. In light of this it is wonderful to see how Samyn's precise, sometimes pretentious, then again extra perceptive atmosphere withstands the intimidating Flash world. Listen and watch every Thursday night at midnight, no sex or porn from what I have seen, but still there is no more erotic site on the Net than this acoustic and visual kaleidoscope.
– Paul Groot
|
Michael Samyn ° 1968, Poperinge, Belgium
Auriea Harvey ° 1971, Indianapolis, USA
Live and work in Gent, Belgium and on the internet
|
|
2 0 0 1 
