Rafaël Rozendaal, Dutch-Brazilian, b.1980, works primarily with websites / NET ART (internet art), producing animated abstract patterns and interactive images that explore the screen as pictorial space. His brightly colored graphics often shift or pulsate with light, while in other images he explores simple movement and gesture, as in paper toilet .com (2006), in which visitors to the site can unravel a roll of toilet paper in virtual space, or jello time .com (2007), where visitors can poke a quivering mass of jello. Rozendaal broke ground when he began to sell his net artworks; in exchange for the purchase of one of Rozendaal’s domain names, a collector’s name appears in the title bar of the work, and the site remains public and accessible to viewers worldwide.
2017, Anti Social is Rafaël Rozendaal’s third solo exhibition with POSTMASTER GALLERY. ‘Abstract Browsing,’ a Chrome extension designed by the artist transform web to vibrant, geometric patterns, devoid of information, simultaneously reveal unusual, unhuman compositions and the scaffolding of the web. Surfing the web is fast and fluid. Weaving is antithetically slow and process-based—what the artist describes as “mechanical painting.” Rozendaal selected weaving as the medium for these works because of the relationship between computer programming and the loom, thus, the loom could be considered the first computer.
“…Art is a place for reflection and contemplation. Quiet, calm, staring. Trying to observe without too many thoughts. We are used to viewing art that way, but the internet is a different place. The internet is fast paced, jumping from link to link, from impression to impression. Websites are ubique (ubiquitous) objects, they can exist in many places simultaneously.
Rafaël Rozendaal
reflection
+ My background in graphic design—websites, icons, you name it—brought me to Rafaël Rozendaal during my exploration of Post-Internet art. I’m captivated by his work. The way he wields colour, creating these simultaneously mundane and playful worlds. His ‘nihilistic’ philosophy of making his art freely available
https://www.newrafael.com/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/abstract-browsing/nmkbjeagaobhphiipgigbjhligebkfcg
https://www.artsy.net/show/postmasters-gallery-rafael-rozendaal-anti-social