TRU_RL: Tight Artists Offline

Curated by Hunter Payne

Have you ever been online? Are you afraid of gangs? Tight Artist Net Gang, also known as T.A.N.G., is a worldwide Internet #based art gang existing solely online at TightArtists.com, until now. For the first time ever, Tight Artists from around the world will meet in real life to share their physical and digital work on March 23rd from 7-10pm at The Studio@620. Admission is free.

“Beyond providing a tool for artists to use to post their work with a sense of permanence online, Tight Artists was created to further explore the continuously evolving digital and internet art community. The sites intention is to give artists the ability to HTML customizable page or “gallery” to promote the expansion and experimentation of creative ideas. “Tight Artists Net Gang is focused on process, creative growth, #based ideals, and is hater-free by origin.” explains co-founder Mary Rachel Kostreva.

“We built TightArtists.com to be a home for our work beyond social media or a personal portfolio site.” says Adam Harms, co-founder of TightArtists.com. “Our work doesn’t fit into the constraints of social media because it’s not just an image or blog post; it takes up a whole page and is often interactive. On TightArtists.com our work isn’t alone; it’s rated, commented on, and seen along with work from other like-minded artists.”“TRU_RL : Tight Artist Offline” will feature work from artists all over the world, materializing their internet experience into physical forms. Net culture, memes, and hella #tight approaches to art will come offline to be explored in print, sculpture, video, and installation. A projector will display results from an open call for digital art. St. Petersburg #based artist Hunter Payne, whose recent solo exhibition “Let’s Draw Underwater!” drew huge support at The Studio@620 earlier this year, helped organize “TRU_RL : Tight Artist Offline” after being initiated into the Tight Artist Net Gang in 2011. “We’re all online going absolutely wild while you sleep; exploring, making, and pushing each other like crazy. It’s time the physical world sees what the Tight Artists are truly capable of offline.”

Be on time for the unique hors d’ourves spread including chicken wings, vintage mega-nuclear radishes from Hiroshima, boxed wine, and some brand of cheap beer. There will also be a pop-up shop where the artists will have prints, shirts, and other art objects for sale. The opening will also feature a nude performance by Kalan Sherrard and DJing by Dak4ndym4nFU.

The Studio@620’s gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 12-4 p.m.