Konrad Wyrebek’s Corrupted Paintings Explore Digital Culture and Dire Climate Change

Climate change and our increasingly digital culture—there are hardly two bigger issues in the modern age. For his new solo show at Galerie Ron Mandos in Amsterdam, Konrad Wyrebek explores both topics, tying them together in a beguiling series of paintings.

The show’s title, “2°C above acCLI-­M8 X,” looks unpronounceable, at least until you sound it out. It functions on several levels. As the global average temperature rises above the long-term average, scientists see a 2° deviation as an alarming, calamitous milestone. Meanwhile, “acCLI-­M8” is a play on words, containing “acclimate” and “climate” as well as the word “mate.” For London-based Wyrebek, “mate” signifies a normal person, someone who’s more concerned with his or her day-to-day life than with global issues; nevertheless, climate change affects them and, indeed, all of us. “acCLI-­M8 X” also suggests the word “climax”—a breaking point.

The title sets the tone for a series of large-format paintings, stark and abstract, based partly on images sourced from television, film, and print publications—not that you’ll be able to pick out many familiar figures or forms. The pixelated, overexposed works look more like ultrasounds or X-rays. Yet they’re effects Wyrebek intentionally creates. By implementing a succession of digital compressions and manipulations, he forces data corruption between device and software. However, though he controls the technique, he doesn’t control the final product. In fact, he’s inspired by imperfection and deformation.

“I know what I am interested in and I am trying to make that happen,” Wyrebek has said. “When you are watching a video online, you can see that sometimes pixelation happens for a second, but I am trying to set the condition to make it happen a bit longer.”