It is time once again, gentle reader, to broaden our artistic horizons and partake of those ever flailing bastions of internet artistry and good taste. I am speaking of the animated .GIF image of course. .GIF Critique Theatre strives to spotlight the masterpieces and the masters of this powerful art form for you, our beloved reader.

This week we explore the world of the “Under Construction” .GIF image and the artists who work in the field. While long considered outsiders in the serious .GIF community, these utilitarians are fast winning the support of the avant-garde .GIF enthusiast with their works soaring in desirability and, consequently, price. Many pieces are going for dozens of cents in the open markets. Let us examine the allure driving these pieces’ popularity.

Under Construction with Lens Flares

This piece is the product of Robert Twiddlethorpe, a veteran .GIF artist based in the American Southwest. The contrast of the simplistic and iconically stylized rendering of the barricade clashes with the photorealism employed in the flashing lens flare. This serves as a jarring reminder of the realities of website construction laid over a cartoonish portrayal by the media.

Twiddlethorpe states, “I have seen the immigrant website construction crews sweltering under the hot Arizona sun. There is real hardship visible in their layouts. Their HTML a tense struggle between the need for a decent meal and the struggle to create one more <div>. I have tasted their suffering alongside them, and boy is it delicious. Have you ever had a tamale made by a Mexican web developer? Good shit.”

Fetus Under Construction

This piece by activist-turned-artist Alice Fartz is certainly among the most controversial. The strong pro-life background of Ms. Fartz has caused quite a stir amid the largely liberal .GIF community. Nevertheless, this has not stopped “Fetus Under Construction” from being shown in the prestigious LouvreDUDE MySpace.

The piece seeks to remind viewers that the fledgling website, like a fetus, is but a smaller, possibly pinker version of its final form. And like the fetus becoming an adult, the tiny newborn website may one day blossom into the biggest depository of HUGE BOOB PIX on the internet.

Construction Sign with Shoveler

“Construction Sign with Shoveler” is .GIF artist Antonio Banderas’s (no relation) self portrait of life working in a globalized society under the thumb of mega-corporations. In a gallery show opening address in 2005, Bandaras spoke specifically of this piece:

“Early in my life I worked for the capitalist pigs in one of their Wal-Marts. It was then I realized that no matter how hard I worked scooping the indeterminate black matter there was always more to do. It never stopped, and would not until I died. It was as if an invisible triangular border were around my person stopping me from escaping my destiny. No matter how hard I tried I could not escape.”

“This border is society, and society will work you for its own benefit until you die, and maybe beyond that. In fact I am certain that the government is working on a reanimation serum to bring the dead back to life in order to have a constant supply of slave labor for their secret cauliflower mines in Area 51…”

Well said Antonio, well said. Join us next time oh reader of my heart as we examine the impact flaming email buttons had on the American suffrage movement of the early 20th century.

.GIF Critique Theatre archives

-Andy