One thing that I am really interested in is the way that the internet – browsing, blog rolling, etc. – takes away the hierarchy of image importance, meaning, and connection. …I am thinking about painting in a similar way, where image, marks, art historical references, and everyday objects are all depicted on the same level, contained in the same rectangle, emerging out of one painting and into another. — Josh Reames
A ghostly t-shirt floats above a word search grid in this punchy work by Josh Reames. T-shirts have become facile conveyers of expression, outwardly announcing the values of the wearer, while word search games suggest a more introspective, if kitschy, endeavor. (The presence of the artist’s name in the upper right suggests the work might, in fact, be a self-portrait.) As suggested in the quote above, Reames is interested in how both of these items become vehicles and containers for meaning in the complex landscape of contemporary culture. Reames’ work has been shown in numerous galleries in the US and abroad.