Podcast Host Bobby Dowler, UAL Post-Grad Community Ambassador, studying MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins

For this first episode of our Open Studio Series, Bobby met online with recent MA Fine Art Camberwell graduate and Internet artwork maker Will @ After Art.

Will @ AfterArt Podcast

Download the Podcast Transcript with Will @ After Art (PDF 98KB)

I first met Will earlier this year when he gave an excellent zoom presentation about his work to our MA Fine Art Digital zoom class. More recently, I had the opportunity and pleasure, through my job as a Post-Grad Community Ambassador for UAL, to create my own project and reach out to Will in order to find out more about his exciting work.

Will is an Internet Artist and recently graduated from MA Fine Art Digital. This course was founded and directed by Professor Jonathan Kearney. It was previously at Camberwell College, where Will studied it on-site and online before moving to its new, in spirit home, Central Saint Martins, last year.

Above: In These Times, 2020 (still) Will @After Art. A ‘browser reading’ of collected euphemisms that have emerged since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Made for online viewing, the work is now part of the UAL Art Collection! It can be viewed here.

This work is one of many rooted in the idea of reading passages of text that Will encountered while browsing the internet and somehow evoked sadness and humour in equal measure in me, which is usually a good sign.

Above: Dear Internet, 2021 (still) Will @ After Art. A reading of a ‘notes app’ apology by internet star Logan Paul following heavy criticism for insensitive video content while on a trip to Japan.

In our thirty-minute interview I discovered more about Will’s biographical background which included a background in music, art direction, making photo-essays for DIS Magazine, his time studying at Camberwell and his frustration with his work before its eventual transformation into the browser-based/internet format. Our talk also covers areas such as conceptual approaches to browsing the internet, learning to code, and the artistic uses (and limitations) of social media, as well as how Will attempts to use appropriated material in a way that feels ‘right’ and personal to him.

Further topics include the influence of the artist Jenny Holzer, the consequences of the attention economy and the emergence of untrained/self-made internet stars such as Logan Paul (whose ‘apology note’ forms the basis of Will’s ‘Dear Internet,‘ work), what happens when hubs for online community get permanently deleted, as well as a discussion about the ambient sense of anxiety that underpins many of our (increasingly adrenalised) online experiences.

Above: After Giorno, 2021. Still. From Will’s deconstructive ‘After Art’ project, which reimagines the aesthetic signatures of blue-chip artists through the lens of basic HTML/CSS web elements (in this case, John Giorno).

Related Links:

• More of Will's browser works can be found here Afterart Gallery and Word Association Gallery
• Will can be contacted by email contactafterart@gmail.com
• Follow him on his newly launched @afterart.gallery instagram account
• Subscribe to the Post Grad Community SoundCloud page
• Visit the Post-Grad Community Podcast Series
• UAL Post-Grad Community

Article Author:

Bobby Dowler (b 1983) in London is studying MA Fine Art Digital at CSM. He is a Post-Grad Community Ambassador at UAL. His artworks have been exhibited at galleries across Europe and America. Independently of UAL he co-hosts a podcast entitled Down and Out in the Art World). Follow Bobby on Instagram.

Post-Grad Community Podcast: Open Studios

Each episode of Post-Grad Community Podcast: Open Studios are hosted by current postgraduate students and seek to highlight and morally support fellow postgraduate student (current and recent alumni) cross-disciplinary studio practices, initially whilst they are working from home. Interested in organising a Podcast episode? Get in touch with us at  PGCommunity@arts.ac.uk

UAL Post-Grad Community

Established in 2013, Post-Grad Community is an inclusive platform for all UAL postgraduate students to share work, find opportunities and connect with other creatives within the UAL and beyond. Find out more

Post-Grad Stories

A thriving online magazine of our postgraduate student voices sharing thought-provoking experiences, practices, thoughts and articles about what matters to them.

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Want to write an article? Get in touch with the Post-Grad Community team PGCommunity@arts.ac.uk