Brad Troemel

A self-described “empathetic disruptor,” conceptual artist Brad Troemel has garnered avid attention for his hilarious projects that stake out a new kind of ground between the traditional gallery space and the marketplace of the Internet, using it as a staging ground to caricature the quirky operations of both. One of his best known early collaborative projects, the Tumblr-based art platform/meme generator known as Jogging, accomplished this by showcasing the cheeky ad hoc sculptures and Photoshop creations of Troemel and his friends as if the screen were a flat kind of virtual plinth; his Etsy store came at things from the other direction, using the craftsy online commercial forum as a place to present totally ridiculous, often perishable products—a Doritos Tacos Locos taco secured shut by a Masterlock, or a cluster of hot dogs, q-tips, and a SuperCuts pen wrapped up in a Livestrong bracelet—as if they were homespun products people might actually want.

Since retiring Jogging and closing his Etsy store Troemel has focused on personal work the deals with different forms of valuation, whether directly as with crypto-currencies like Bitcoins, or more abstractly in terms of cultural capital. One example is what he calls “CTAs,” or celebrity-turned-artists, whose art he labels as a “super good,” a product analogous to a “super food” that seethes with cross-contextual value. "Simultaneously an art object, a memorabilia item, and a hyper-intimate autograph," he writes, "CTA works (and super goods as a whole) are a highly potent bundle of commodities nestled within themselves, able to be extracted individually or allowed to appreciate in value simultaneously as a diversified portfolio." Troemel is also well known for his writing that began with essays and pseudo-manifestos including “Athletic Aesthetics” and “The Accidental Audience,"  both published in The New Inquiry in 2013, and more recently mammoth press releases for his solo shows where in an effort of transparency and engagement, he “[tries] to create a key to the puzzle of the exhibition.”

Troemel has had solo exhibitions at Zach Feuer Gallery in New York, Tomorrow Gallery in New York, The Still House Group in Brooklyn, Future Gallery in Berlin, Oliver Frances Gallery in Dallas, and Showroom MAMA in Rotterdam. His work has been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as New Museum in New York, Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle, Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art, Portland Art Museum, and Berkeley Art Museum.