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An overhead view of a gallery installation resembling a cluttered, lived-in bedroom or studio space. The walls are white, and the carpet is dark blue. Scattered across the floor are crumpled t-shirts, socks, other clothing, crumbled tissues. A small table at the center resembles a cathode-ray television made of blue & white fine china. It’s paired with a light blue toilet. A laptop, is positioned near a wooden desk. The laptop’s coords connect to a receipt printer sitting on top of a toilet paper holder. A receipt continuously prints and piles up next to the toilet. On the desk a 3D printer is printing parts of an AR-15 style assault rifle. Posters and are pinned to the walls, including an American Spirit advertisement, a JD Vance in a bikini, and a Trotsky quote with a portrait of Sam Hyde. A faux window displays an image of a Middle Eastern rooftop scene. Soda cans and small figurines in the likeness of Kyle Rittenhouse and Luigi Mangione are placed throughout the space. A white, ceramic TV is opposite the toilet. On it, a video of a man plays. He is sitting on the same toilet, and eating McDonalds off of the porcelain TV tray.

Portrait of a Young American Man, Who Has Ostensibly Failed in Life, Has Little-To-No Prospects, and Has Moved Back Home, Again.

Ben Michalsky

Undergraduate
"To be able to function in late capitalism without being a psychological wreck, it is necesary to accept the insane as standard." Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? 2009 > be me > 23m white USA > columbus ohio > living at home with my parents > 6/10 virgin > fml > no job no money > scroll all day > sometimes play games with my frieds > can’t get a job bc of new world order > can’t get a girlfriend bc of low t from microplastic seed oils > what has this coutnry come to? > what does it even matter > installation related Ben Michalsky is a sculptor, video, and new media artist exploring memetic culture, identity formation, consumption, myth-making, and political radicalization in the digital age.