We are all Contagious We are all Contagious: Leonidas Dezes

We are all Contagious We are all Contagious: Leonidas Dezes
Leonidas Dezes

Tampa, FL

My work is about finding importance in the apparently unimportant. I utilize aspects of play including frivolity, levity, nonsense and humor. My most recent work is a weekly live streaming program, presenting lo-fi, colorful imagery that reflects the visual aesthetic of internet memes, and incorporates esoteric references mirroring niche internet community culture. Similar to the Dadaists who reacted to the horrors of WWI through nonsense, my style runs parallel to memes and internet groups who reflect a revolt against reason. As we've now entered into this pandemic world where we are all using internet technology and streaming more than ever, I explore the implications of our new social relationships. As Henri Bergson writes in his essay on laughter, humor is deeply tied to the social, thereby acting as a reflection of society. What emerges from this apparently light content reveals both the state of myself and the culture of which I am a part, and our relationship to reality.

Artist's website

Total Insanity, 2020, video, 1:48