Jon Rafman by Dan Wilton

Jon Rafman. Photo: Dan Wilton

 

Jon Rafman (*1981) is acclaimed for a multifaceted oeuvre that encompasses video, animation, photography, sculpture and installation. His quasi-anthropological works—often incorporating internet-sourced images and narrative material—investigate digital technologies and the communities they create, focusing on the losses, longings and fantasies that shape our technology-infused lives today. The Montreal-based artist turns an empathic but critical eye on the internet age, investigating experiences of alienation, nostalgia, loneliness and grief.

 

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Rafman’s complex take on internet technologies is implicit even in his earliest work. The Nine Eyes of Google Street View (2007–present), an ever-growing collection of photographic images and frequently updated website, finds him rummaging the panoramic street view feature of Google Maps for unusual images. Like a cyber flâneur he stumbles upon surprising moments of humanity, vulnerability and sometimes beauty; his discoveries include pictures of children playing in run-down neighborhoods, horses and reindeer roaming the streets, poetic landscapes, grumbling prostitutes and police arrests. By showing these automatically captured images in a new light, Rafman reveals the visual grammar and blind spots of Google’s technology.

Many of Rafman’s later videos explore lesser-known facets of the digital world. A case in point is Codes of Honor (2011), a docu-fiction short that combines real film footage with images from the online platform Second Life to tell the story of a video gamer’s life. Another is the film essay trilogy consisting of Still Life (Betamale) (2013), Mainsqueeze (2014) and ERYSICHTON (2015), a visual study of niche internet cultures including cosplayers, hentai pornography enthusiasts or people who pursue obscure sexual fetishes.

Not all of the artist’s works use found images. While the bust-like objects of his series New Age Demanded (2012–present) evoke classical modernist sculptures, they were actually created using digital imaging techniques and technologies including 3D printing or 3D model-based carving. A series of large-scale photographs titled You Are Standing in an Open Field (2015) juxtaposes grimy computer keyboards and trash-heaped desks with pastoral landscape painting backgrounds. Sticky Drama (2015), a short about the loss of digitally stored memories, is Rafman’s first live-action film.

Many of the artist’s most recent works use 3D animation. Examples include his Dream Journal 2016–2019, for which Rafman documents his daily dreams before mixing them with found narratives from mythology, video games and TV series. The animated video essays Legendary Reality (2017), SHADOWBANNED (2018) and Disasters under the Sun (2019) offer a serious look at the current human condition with a visual language reminiscent of science fiction films.

Rafman’s films and videos are often set to hypnotic, experimental-electro music soundtracks by artists including Oneohtrix Point Never or James Ferraro. Although available online, they are most effectively experienced in specially-designed sculptural installations. These emphatically physical installations squeeze viewers into booths, transport them to the bedroom of a typical North American teenager, invite them to lie on polyurethane foam seating or in pools of plastic balls.

All of Jon Rafman’s works explore the vicissitudes of self-formation in the digital age. They ask what it means to live in a time when technologies structure our every waking hour, or when the price of easy fulfillment of our needs is loneliness in front of a computer screen.  They explore the ever-present experience of living in a world where nothing is permanent, but nothing is forgotten.

 

Jon Rafman, Dream Journal ‘16–‘17
Sprüth Magers, Berlin, September 16, 2017–January 20, 2018
© Berlin Art Link Productions

Works
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022
4K stereo video
28:20

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕, (Nuclear Kiss), 2022

Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕
(Nuclear Kiss)
, 2022
Inkjet print and acrylic on canvas
186.7 × 134.6 cm
73.5 × 53 inches

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖, (Lacrosse I), 2022

Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖
(Lacrosse I)
, 2022
Inkjet print and acrylic on canvas
186.7 × 134.6 cm
73 1/2 × 53 inches

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Single–channel video
Music by Oneohtrix Point Never and James Ferraro
94 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020

Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminum and wood
149.9 × 201.9 cm
59 × 79.5 inches

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
You Are Standing in an Open Field (Mental Traveler), 2020

Jon Rafman
You Are Standing in an Open Field (Mental Traveler), 2020
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminum and wood
149.9 × 201.9 cm
59 × 79.5 inches

Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
New Age Demanded (Angel Racer Carrara), 2014

Jon Rafman
New Age Demanded (Angel Racer Carrara), 2014
White Carrara marble
91.5 × 152.4 × 67 cm
36 × 60 × 26 3/8 inches

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
View of Harbor, 2018

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor, 2018
Virtual Reality 3D Simulation
Color, sound
8:00 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016
Three-channel HD video
13:30 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
144 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2012

Jon Rafman
144 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2012
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminium
101.6 × 162.5 cm
40 × 64 inches

Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
3081 Valmont Road, Boulder, Colorado, 2012

Jon Rafman
3081 Valmont Road, Boulder, Colorado, 2012
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminium
101.6 × 162.5 cm
40 × 64 inches

Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021
4K video, sound
21 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017
Single-channel video
7:08 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020
Single-channel video
30:00 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013
Single-channel video
4:54 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2021

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2021
4K video
87:52 min

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Disasters under the Sun, 2019

Jon Rafman
Disasters under the Sun, 2019
Single-channel video, color, sound
7:53 min

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Details
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022
4K stereo video
28:20

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Counterfeit Poast, 2022
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕
(Nuclear Kiss)
, 2022
Inkjet print and acrylic on canvas
186.7 × 134.6 cm
73.5 × 53 inches

Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕, (Nuclear Kiss), 2022
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕
(Nuclear Kiss)
, 2022 (detail)

Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕, (Nuclear Kiss), 2022
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕
(Nuclear Kiss)
, 2022 (detail)

Jon Rafman
𐤍𐤔𐤉𐤒𐤄𐤟𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤉𐤕, (Nuclear Kiss), 2022
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖
(Lacrosse I)
, 2022
Inkjet print and acrylic on canvas
186.7 × 134.6 cm
73 1/2 × 53 inches

Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖, (Lacrosse I), 2022
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖
(Lacrosse I)
, 2022 (detail)

Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖, (Lacrosse I), 2022
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖
(Lacrosse I)
, 2022 (detail)

Jon Rafman
𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤅𐤎𐤟𐤖, (Lacrosse I), 2022
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Single–channel video
Music by Oneohtrix Point Never and James Ferraro
94 min

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal 2016–2019, 2019
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminum and wood
149.9 × 201.9 cm
59 × 79.5 inches

Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020 (detail)

Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020 (detail)

Jon Rafman
You are Standing in an Open Field (Thanatopsis), 2020
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
You Are Standing in an Open Field (Mental Traveler), 2020
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminum and wood
149.9 × 201.9 cm
59 × 79.5 inches

Jon Rafman
You Are Standing in an Open Field (Mental Traveler), 2020
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
New Age Demanded (Angel Racer Carrara), 2014
White Carrara marble
91.5 × 152.4 × 67 cm
36 × 60 × 26 3/8 inches

Jon Rafman
New Age Demanded (Angel Racer Carrara), 2014
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Installation view, New Age Demanded (Angel Racer Carrara), Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, 2014

Jon Rafman
New Age Demanded (Angel Racer Carrara), Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, 2014
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor, 2018
Virtual Reality 3D Simulation
Color, sound
8:00 min

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor, 2018
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor (film still)

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor (film still)

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor (film still)

Jon Rafman
View of Harbor
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016
Three-channel HD video
13:30 min

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016 (installation view)

Jon Rafman
Open Heart Warrior, 2016
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
144 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2012
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminium
101.6 × 162.5 cm
40 × 64 inches

Jon Rafman
144 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2012
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
3081 Valmont Road, Boulder, Colorado, 2012
Archival pigment print on dibond aluminium
101.6 × 162.5 cm
40 × 64 inches

Jon Rafman
3081 Valmont Road, Boulder, Colorado, 2012
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021
4K video, sound
21 min

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Punctured Sky, 2021
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017
Single-channel video
7:08 min

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Poor Magic, 2017
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020
Single-channel video
30:00 min

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Kool-Aid Man in Second Life (Supercut), 2020
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013
Single-channel video
4:54 min

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Still Life (Betamale), 2013
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2021
4K video
87:52 min

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2021
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2021 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2021
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2020 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2020
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2020 (film still)

Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon (Vol. 1), 2020
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Disasters under the Sun, 2019
Single-channel video, color, sound
7:53 min

Jon Rafman
Disasters under the Sun, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Disasters Under the Sun, 2019 (detail)

Jon Rafman
Disasters Under the Sun, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Disasters Under the Sun, 2019 (detail)

Jon Rafman
Disasters Under the Sun, 2019
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Disasters Under the Sun, 2019 (detail)

Jon Rafman
Disasters Under the Sun, 2019
Details
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1 of 17

 

Current and Upcoming
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman, Minor Daemon, Vol. 1, 2021
© Jon Rafman


Jon Rafman
Minor Daemon
180 The Strand, London
Through March 25, 2023

180 Studios presents the UK premiere of Minor Daemon (2021), a new film by Canadian artist and filmmaker Jon Rafman. Rafman’s feature film presents a computer-generated fever-dream universe, drawing on the landscapes of online worlds to examine interrelationship of technology and social consciousness. Set in a surreal dystopia, Minor Daemon, Vol. 1 tells the story of two young men who share an extraordinary gift for virtual reality gaming that could secure their freedom as they journey through a Hieronymus Bosch-like hellscape. Continuing where Rafman’s Dream Journal (2016-19) left off, the new film harnesses consumer animation technology to raise aesthetic questions about computer-generated moving image, projecting the anxieties of 21st century techno-society into 3D animation.

Link

A Gateway to Possible Worlds
Group Exhibition
Centre Pompidou-Metz
Through April 10, 2023

The American writer Ray Bradbury said: "Science fiction is the art of the possible." Under the guise of anticipating the future, it speaks to us of the present. It is a laboratory of hypotheses that manipulate and extrapolate the repressive norms and dogmas of today's world, its ambitions, social afflictions, opportunities and perils. A Gateway To Possible Worlds exhibition brings together over 200 works from the late 1960s to the present day. Art & science fiction whisks visitors away to a 2300m² sci-fi world. It puts the spotlight on the bonds between imaginary worlds and our reality with the help of artists, authors, architects and film directors. It builds on current demands for 21st century utopias to spark debate, inspiration and a form of hope.

Link
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman, You Are Standing in an Open Field (Mental Tarveler), 2020 © Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman, 53128 Cl. 51, Medelllín, Antioquia, 2019

I'll be your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen
Group Exhibition
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Through April 30, 2023

Screens affect nearly every aspect of life today. Their pervasiveness has bred a 24/7 breaking news cycle, the looming corporate-sponsored virtual-reality “Metaverse,” unlimited accessibility and content, and an ease in how ideas and images are distributed, undoubtably shaping culture in profound ways. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents the landmark I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen, a thematic group exhibition that examines the screen’s vast impact on art from 1969 to the present. This exhibition surveys more than sixty works by fifty artists over the past five decades. The artists included examine screen culture through a broad range of media such as paintings, sculpture, video games, digital art, augmented reality, and video.

Link

What a Wonderful World
Group Exhibition
MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome
Through May 21, 2023

The title refers to today’s reality and hopes for tomorrow: through the visionary gaze of the artists, it evokes—sometimes in an ironic way—our time riddled with uncertainties and challenges and multiple human and technological possibilities of significant evolutions and drive towards the future. The works on display investigate the major issues of scientific and technological progress concerning the challenges of the contemporary era: the hybridisation between species and ecosystems, between real experiences and virtual interactions, between changes and grafts of identity and gender, in the reconfiguration of the social and political dynamics of our time.

Link
Jon Rafman
What a Wonderful World, installation view, MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome.
© Jon Rafman. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI. Photo: M3studio
Jon Rafman
René Magritte, Le grand siècle, 1954 (part.), Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen © René Magritte by SIAE 2023

A Leap into the Void. Art Beyond Matter
Group Exhibition
GAMeC, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo
Through May 28, 2023

Launched in 2018 with Black Hole. Art and Materiality from Informal to Invisible, and continued in 2021 with Nothing is Lost. Art and Matter in Transformation, A Leap into the Void concludes the Trilogy of Matter exploring the theme of the dematerialization, with a transversal tale that triggers a connection between those investigations into the void, initiated by the first movements of the historical avant-garde and developed by experimental groups post-World War II, the investigations into flux undertaken in the years of early computerization, and the use of new languages and simulated realities in the post-digital era.

Link
Exhibitions at Sprüth Magers
Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
𝐸𝒷𝓇𝒶𝒽 𝒦'𝒹𝒶𝒷𝓇𝒾
February 3–March 25, 2023
London

Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to announce Jon Rafman's first solo exhibition at the London gallery. In his latest works, the artist harnesses the creative potential of machine learning processes, continuing his long-standing practice of investigating the impact of technology on contemporary consciousness. The exhibition in London features both algorithmically generated paintings and video projections that explore new permutations of appropriated content, encompassing everything from fine art to mass marketing material.

Rafman incorporates the rich vocabulary and visuality of online worlds to develop poetic narratives that critically engage with the present, creating works that capture the tension between the indifferent eye of the machine and the human impulse to find meaning.

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Jon Rafman

Jon Rafman
Dream Journal '16 -'17
September 16, 2017–January 20, 2018
Berlin

In Dream Journal 2016-2017, the latest iteration in his ongoing video series, Jon Rafman has created an immersive installation within the Berlin space. Rafman is recognized for an interdisciplinary practice that spans photography, sculpture, video, virtual reality, and installation. His work explores the impact of technology on contemporary consciousness, incorporating the rich vocabulary of online worlds to create poetic narratives that critically engage with the present.

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Jon Rafman, Stan VanDerBeek
Jon Rafman / Stan VanDerBeek
curated by Johannes Fricke Waldthausen

January 20–March 4, 2017
Los Angeles

Memory comes to live through action in the present. We give life to memory through the present but when we do not give life to memory, it fades away. —J. Krishnamurti

This exhibition at Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, introduces films and animations by Jon Rafman and Stan VanDerBeek, two artists from different generations, both exploring and working with associative imagery and their effect on the conditioned and the subconscious mind. Derived from the notion of screens and projections, their installations evolve around an immersive cinema and animation experience.

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Jon Rafman
Jon Rafman

Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens
Theodora Allen, Slater Bradley, Lucy Dodd, Lizzie Fitch / Ryan Trecartin, Andy Hope 1930, Oliver Laric, Pew Die Pie, Jon Rafman, Pamela Rosenkranz, Sara VanDerBeek, Stan VanDerBeek, Lesley Vance, Andro Wekua
curated by Johannes Fricke Waldthausen / GOODROOM
January 29–April 2, 2016
Berlin

Bringing together the practice of thirteen international artists, the exhibition Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens appeals to the intuitive mind and creativity beyond referential thinking. Departing from the artists' production, it navigates through narratives in the realm of surrealist animation, abstraction and subjects of new materialism embracing the logic of the internet.

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Press

Jon Rafman: Surf’s Up
Blau International, interview by Jordan Richman, Winter 2022/2023

Finding Romance in the Grotesque: Jon Rafman
032c, interview by Claire Koron Elat, September 16, 2022

Art: Jon Rafman
Purple Magazine, interview by Aleph Molinari and Olivier Zahm, Spring/Summer, 2022

Street-View-Fotografie Straßenansichten
Monopol, article by Donna Schons, March 31, 2020

People are repeating History without the Knowledge of their doing so: Jon Rafman
Spike, interview by Aaron Moulton, Winter 2020

Deep Dive: Art and Virtual Reality
Artforum International, article by Jon Rafman, November 2017

Dante im Darknet: Jon Rafman
Frankfurter Allgemeine Quarterly, article by Kolja Reichert, Winter 2017

The refracting Eye: Jon Rafman
Cura Magazine, article by Bret Schneider, Fall 2016

Infinite Lives: Jon Rafman
Frieze, article by Gary Zhexi Zhang, January-February 2016

Revealing Jon Rafman
Canadian Art, article by Murry Whyte, Fall 2015

Internet Explorer: Jon Rafman
Bomb, interview by Lindsay Howard, July 8, 2010

Biography

Jon Rafman (*1981, Montreal) lives and works in Montreal and Los Angeles. Rafman's recent solo exhibitions were held at 180 The Strand, London (2023); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2022), Ordet, Milan (2022), La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2021), Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2020), Fondazione Modena Arti Visive (2018), Sprüth Magers, Berlin (2017), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2016), Westfälischer Kunstverein, Muenster (2016), Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal (2015) and The Zabludowicz Collection, London (2015). His works have been featured in prominent international group exhibitions, including Kunstmuseum Bonn (2021), Belgrade Biennale (2021), the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), Sharjah Biennial (2019 and 2017), the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2018), Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal (2017), K11 Art Shanghai (2017), Les Abattoirs, Toulouse (2017), Berlin Biennial 9 (2016), Manifesta Biennial for European Art 11 (2016), Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2015), Biennale de Lyon (2015) and Fridericianum, Kassel (2013).

Education
2006–2008 MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
2000–2004 BA, Philosophy and Literature, McGill University, Montréal
Awards, Grants and Fellowships
2018 Sobey Award (Shortlist)
2016 Long-Term Grant to Visual Artists, Canada Council for the Arts
Pierre Ayot Award, Ville De Montréal
Sobey Award (Longlist)
2015 Sobey Award (Shortlist)
2014 Future Generation Prize, Pinchuk Foundation, Kiev (Shortlist)
2012 Media Arts Project Grant, Canada Council for the Arts
Public Collections
Banque Nationale, Montreal
Burger Collection, Hong Kong
Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Dallas Art Museum, Dallas
Fosun Foundation Collection, Shanghai
Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf
Kadist Foundation, Paris and San Francisco
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Musée des beaux‐arts de Montréal
Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal
Museo d’arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
RBC Collection, Toronto
Rubell Family Collection, Miami
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Ville de Montréal
Zabludowicz Collection, London