Trigger warning: this is very meta.
UseLoseTasteWaste twee whistler performs as Jon Rafman in a machinima created with The Sims also starring Rafman's mother, Sandra:
Here we see Sandra Rafman (Jon's mom) being secretly an artist herself, both inspiring and trolling his son ( •` u ´• ) and, for a brief moment, Rafman's collaborator/musician Oneohtrix Point Never (irl Daniel Lopatin) romantically riding a horse in Jon's secret yaoi fantasies ihihihihihih.
edgy time with mom is part of an ongoing examination of fandom - a quintessentially game-centric phenomenon - which is thus applied to the Artworld, here metonymically represented by Jon Rafman, whose production of stunning video game-based artworks has influenced an entire generation of art trolls.
In other words - and perhaps even worlds - in edgy time with mom fanfiction becomes a format and a filter highlighting the function of cultural capital in gaming as well as in contemporary art. Among other things, we see Jon and his mother dancing together in a park, flying in a jetpack, eating a gelato, taking a bath, and experiencing a series of glitches. Rafman's world and Rafman's art practice are de facto indistinguishable.
It's very edgy.
It's very timely.
It's pure genius.
In the text accompanying the machinima, UseLoseTasteWaste twee whistler writes that Jon Rafman operates as a meme, as a "senpai"* and as a blue chip artist equivalent of Justin Bieber. The anon artist suggests that the social hierarchy of fan communities is "based on knowledge rather than economic power". However, others argue that the phenomenon is much more complex. Take, for instance Sarah Thornton, who wrote about the role of subcultural capital in the 1990s' club scene, expanding/mixing both Pierre Bourdieu's theory of taste in modern societies and Dick Hedbidge's seminal study on subcultures.
In another video, $toned $andra Rafman testing “View of Pariser Platz” by $on Jon Rafman (2018)...
...Sandra Rafman experiences Jon's world in VR.
UseLoseTasteWaste twee whistler provides additional details:
thought of it as a performance, added a couple of youtubers so that she seems to imitate and relate to mgl/troll culture (like being absorbed into her son's work as she's herself a piece of his/mine imagery). Video shot by Rosa Menkman, sort of net art mom (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
Oh, this is the infamous photo:
NO LINK: ┻┳| ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ﾉ
Born in 1995 in Turin, Italy, Twee Whistler is currently graduating from Brera Academy. She has declined a few exhibition invitations due to social anxiety (งಠ෴ಠ)ง, but somehow managed to make it to CHAIN LETTER, a collective exhibition at Hutt Collective, Nottingham, in 2018. (´•u•`)ﾉ
She now lives in Milan. (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
* "A name often used in manga by shy girls referring to a boy, perhaps barely known, which they have fallen in love with", definition provided by the artist.
