SIGNS OF THE TIMES – MIKE CAMPAU: HOW ANTISOCIAL ARE MY SOCIAL MEDIA?
In his latest series, Antisocial, Michigan-based digital artist Mike Campau crafted some eye-catching Illuminated signs that force the viewer to reflect on the dark side of our favorite apps and social media.
Each work features a single illuminated and colorful neon sign, similar to those found outside of gas stations or motels all over the country. Yet the marquees advertise a different kind of service: each one bears the signature logo and colors one of the aforementioned social media websites, warm, inviting, and familiar, plus a statement which comes in smaller writing and therefore only reveals itself afterwards, commenting on a negative and antisocial apect of the protagonist that most of us are unaware of — or simply choose to ignore. Facebook for instance is described as “the place to go and make everyone think your life is great”, while Instagram is summed up as a series of attention-seeking exclamations.
The signs are set against moody photos of empty parking lots, eerily isolated spots that contrast the paradox of our real-life loneliness with the unreal life we create on our social profiles, and which the American artist describes as a fitting “symbol of our singularly isolated posts, but placed in a location where it can easily be seen by many.“
The fact that the scenes depicted in these images look real but aren't, just as the selfportraits most of us present on these social plaforms, makes them all the more ironic.
Visit Mike Campau’s website and Behance portfolio to see more of his photography and other creative projects.