Napkin, 2013

A pioneer of technology-based art, Cory Arcangel mines the online and pop cultural vernacular—as well as techniques of digital hacking, manipulating, recycling, and reconfiguring—to consider notions of community, technological obsolescence, and artistic ingenuity. Arcangel created many of his most famous works with now-outmoded tech: He’s known for his digital paintings made from Photoshop templates and his hacked Super Mario Bros. cartridges stripped of all graphics except the backdrop of white clouds against a blue sky. While this work might take the form of a painting - we are presented with a digitally produced surface showing a scan of a SUBWAY napkin overlaid with a digital watermark of the artist's name and copyright symbol.