Externalities of the Metaverse Gaze A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Painting Department in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design Marc Bridger Savannah, Georgia Copyright © Marc Bridger, July 2020 Christopher Williams, Committee Chair Stephen Knudsen, Committee Member Todd Schroeder, Committee Member Dedication Without doubt, adversity, fear, and failure I would never have met my wife. And, I would not have gone to school. Every day for over a decade an immigrant has gone to work and made a living so the man writing these words had the privilege of attending college late in life. She worked hard through the adversity of a recession and now another that is arising around a pandemic. If there is anything good in here, it is because of her. I would not have had children. I would not have become an artist. And, I would not have made the “American” art in this document. An immigrant did all that. Any of the failures in here are mine alone. She gave me the privilege of an education. Hopefully I have done something worthy of her sacrifice. For my boys. Acknowledgements I am grateful to many people for their professional influence and authentic humanity along the way. Dr. Riccardo Marchi and Lou Marcus presented art history and culture in a rigorous and engaging way that made me see and think about the world around me differently. And, made me want to know more. Richard Olinger and Bradlee Shanks were tolerant and patient, while inspiring me to critically consider society, art, and culture. Cesar Cornejo is a very special person—a professor, example, and friend demonstrating that mastery and excellence in art can also be humble and kind. Without these people I would not have sought an M.F.A. where I encountered so many similar types of professors and people of great compassion at SCAD. Gregory Eltringham is a wealth of knowledge and along with Debra Carson encouraged me to push forward. Their example kept me holding on when I wanted to let go. A special thanks to Todd Schroeder for serving on my committee and helping this document come to fruition. My critical thinking grew under the guidance of Christopher Williams whose criticisms demonstrated how to both encourage and critique in a way that helps a person grow. And, Professor Stephen Knudsen who got stuck with me in so very many classes. I often pitied him for the fatigue he must have felt after engaging with my verbose meanderings about society. But he never showed it. Instead, he demonstrated patience and professionalism, while introducing me to artists and art history that greatly influenced my direction. His rigorous and conscientious insights helped this document grow, evolve, and emerge in a much better form. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Knudsen and all those professors, advisers, librarians, journalists, artists, and others that have helped me get here. Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................................................. 1 Abstract.............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Part 1 – Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 6 1.1. Fear and Faith ....................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Artworld Arrival ................................................................................................................................ 16 1.3. Externalities ........................................................................................................................................ 19 1.4. Cultural Transience ......................................................................................................................... 26 1.5. Metaverse ............................................................................................................................................ 29 1.6. The Metaverse Gaze ........................................................................................................................ 50 1.6.1. Gaslighting .................................................................................................................................. 55 1.6.2. Sociological Propaganda ........................................................................................................ 62 2. Part 2 – Figurative Representation Attractor ................................................................................ 76 2.1. Double-Slit Doppelganger (2018-19) ............................................................................................ 78 2.2. Global Socio-Economic and Political Conditions .................................................................. 80 2.3. Allegorical Content and Characters ........................................................................................... 87 2.4. Claudia Gómez González ............................................................................................................... 93 2.5. Quantum Physics ............................................................................................................................. 99 2.5.1. Manufacturing a Disentangled Hamburglar .................................................................. 106 2.6. Art Influences ................................................................................................................................. 109 2.7. Personal Mark and Style .............................................................................................................. 116 2.7.1. Process ........................................................................................................................................ 117 2.7.2. Monochrome & Layering ...................................................................................................... 122 2.7.3. Hatching Style and Perceptual Shifts ............................................................................... 131 2.8. Caricature, Nostalgia, and the Rhetoric of Painting ........................................................... 144 2.8.1. Surface Identity ....................................................................................................................... 146 2.8.2. Concocted Conflict and Propaganda ................................................................................ 147 2.9. Formal Decisions ............................................................................................................................ 150 2.10. Art’s Gaze ......................................................................................................................................... 152 3. Part 3 – Metaverse Artform ................................................................................................................ 158 3.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 160 3.2. Contextualizing Historical Summary ......................................................................................166 3.3. Aporias and Indeterminacy......................................................................................................... 171 3.4. Space or Spatial ............................................................................................................................... 175 3.4.1. The Real Irony ........................................................................................................................... 178 3.4.2. Process ........................................................................................................................................ 188 3.5. Document, Digital Image, or Painting ....................................................................................... 193 3.5.1. Versioning ................................................................................................................................. 200 3.6. Autopoietic Artworld .................................................................................................................... 201 3.7. Spurious Space and Faking Fragmentation.......................................................................... 203 3.7.1. Emancipatory Optics and Space ........................................................................................ 204 3.8. Supplemental Third-Order Simulacra .................................................................................... 205 3.8.1. Back to Baudrillard ................................................................................................................. 209 3.9. Artform Dematerialization .......................................................................................................... 211 3.10. Strategies & Influences ................................................................................................................ 215 3.11. Pair of Dise ....................................................................................................................................... 221 3.11.1. What’s in a Name? ................................................................................................................