Andrey Kartashov, Social Network, 2023, Overpainted Giclée Print on Canvas

The idea the picture conveys is the transformation of trans-epochal cultural and behavioral patterns. Cruel pleasures of the times of the Roman Empire, an arena where for some a wave of a finger was a matter of life and death, for others it was an idle entertainment that has evolved to a blue “like” in social networks of our days. The algorithm of mass addictions of the crowd, which originated in the stands of the Colosseum, used to influence existential questions at that time and it still continues to influence these now. When clicking on the blue finger, it should be kept in mind that the Cambridge Analytica artificial intelligence was able to determine that 10 likes enable the machine to recognize a person at the level of a colleague, 70 – at the level of a friend, 150 – as a family member, 300 likes – as a loving partner. Andrey Kartashov graduated from the A. Erdely Professional College of Arts of the Transcarpathian Academy of Arts in Uzhgorod, and later graduated from the Department of Painting of the Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Portrait Painters Association of America (PSA), and in 2016, he joined the Union of Artists of Russia. His works are represented in the collections of the Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Tianjin Museum, and Liu Haisu Museum of Art in China, Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum in Austria, as well as in private collections of collectors from Russia, the UK, the USA, China, Ukraine, Poland, France, and the Netherlands. Produced using more forward-going technologies like the Metis scanner, which allows for printing out excellent quality art pieces, combined with the artists hand touch through overpainting, it becomes a high-class, exclusive art piece. Excellent art piece in an elegant black wood frame.