{"data":{"id":"10226","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":10226,"topgoose_id":451,"tms_id":10226,"display_name":"Ryan Trecartin","sort_name":"Trecartin Ryan","display_date":"1981–","begin_date":"1981","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eRyan Trecartin’s distinctive video aesthetic absorbs and reconfigures the visual and linguistic clutter of technology, culture, consumerism, psychology, and identity at the beginning of the new millennium. These frenzied, multilinear narratives are the product of an artist who came of age alongside the Internet; the works’ manic pace and fluid structure reflect Trecartin’s acute understanding of media and its social machinations.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTrecartin studied film, video, and\nanimation at the Rhode Island School of\nDesign, where he received his BFA in\n2004. His senior thesis project,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/27607\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Family\nFinds Entertainment\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, remains one of his\nmost celebrated videos. It features the artist,\nhis family and friends, and performers—\nincluding his longtime collaborator Lizzie\nFitch—who move through highly stylized\nsets, wear eccentric costumes, and recite\nfragmented declarative lines in a mix\nof dialects. While exhibiting some affinities\nwith the experimental films of \u003ca href=\"/artists/11110\"\u003eJack Smith\u003c/a\u003e\nand \u003ca href=\"/artists/13848\"\u003eJohn Waters\u003c/a\u003e, Trecartin’s work\ndeparts from those historical precedents\nby rendering queerness as a mode of\nsocial interaction that is fluid, shifting, and,\nultimately, independent of notions of\nsexuality. Several storylines unfold in his\nvideo, a mix of real-world scenarios\nand a fantastical inner cosmos depicted\nthrough the use of colorful animations.\nOne central narrative is driven by\nthe character Skippy (played by Trecartin),\na postadolescent in the midst of sexual,\nexistential, and psychological crises.\nThrough life-and-death encounters and\nmelodramatic exchanges, the characters—\nall of whom are hybrids of genders and\nclass types—work through adolescent\nsocial mores that culminate in an orgiastic\nparty ending in fireworks.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500294188","wikidata_id":"Q7384595","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:40:43.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-09T07:04:16.131-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/10226/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/10226/exhibitions"}}}}