Satirical humour and collage art often find themselves natural partners, something that’s keenly underlined in the work of the self-thought marvel that is Cult Class, the pseudonym of American artist Caitlyn Grabenstein. Alien manned spaceships, flower heads, mass destruction, lonely ghosts and insta-Jezus are just a few of the iconic figures you can see pop up in her work. This piece, called Scrolling these days, for me felt like an exploration of internet rage. Short fuses and hot tempers seem to become almost synonymous with online communication, where vitriol and hatred often outweigh rationality and sensibility.
It often feels like everyone is angry about something on the internet and the barriers to unleashing that rage tend to be non-existent. This work for me captures that spirit perfectly, one can almost imagine the explosion of fire that an off-hand comment or a news item has unleashed in the central figure, a spark that feels ready to ignite a ‘flame’ war. Caitlyn’s retro style, mixing current imagery with photographic elements from the past, only seems to enhance the absurdity of some of our modern problems. If you enjoy this work, please head over to ‘Cult Class’s’ channels and dive into her often madcap explorations of our pop culture, where although the world might look like it’s ending, the ride towards our doom at least feels like a fun one.
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