notification | Michael James Schneider

notification
Michael James Schneider

March 7 - 30, 2018

Reception: Thursday, March 8, 6–8 PM

Curated by Andrew D. Jankowski

Social media has created an environment for presenting its subjects in the most glamorous, idealized settings, and has created unique false narratives that tell stories of lives that can’t entirely be trusted to be authentic. Filtered from this culture increasingly obsessed with personal branding, notification explores the question, “What is a false narrative if *everything* is a false narrative?” notification finds value in capturing the least flattering, most humiliating aspects of its subject, who defines the “anti-selfie” as being an inevitable evolution in the history of self-portraiture. Rather than shy away from the limitations of online media, (most social media drastically reduces the resolution on photography), the artist has chosen to present the photos at their original online size and resolution. notification starts a dialogue at the intersection of validation, narcissism, self deprecation, and humiliation.

Michael James Schneider is a self-taught photographer, content creator, and writer. He left his day job in 2012 to take a year-long artistic sabbatical to create and develop his artistic voice, and during that time he wrote and self-published his first novel, designed the set for the west coast premiere of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and interior-decorated his apartment which was featured on Apartment Therapy. He is of the strong conviction that everyone has an artistic vision inside them which only needs encouragement and experience.