RYAN SHELLEY 
LECTURER, ART + DESIGN - GRAPHIC DESIGN, TOWSON UNIVERSITY

; )
2021
Unnumbered edition of vinyl stickers
You are welcome to take a sticker

“A tribute to the joys, limits, inventiveness, awkwardness, necessity, and multitasking that is screen-based messaging; this is for all who embraced and grew its potential during forced isolation when F2F dissipated.

“The flattening of content inherent in dialogue via mass-produced onyx unislab is frightening. That so many are able to adapt and invent, pushing and remixing and evolving language via humor, is encouraging. Whether it’s coding past the prying eyes of parents or teachers, bureaucrats or agents of the state, censoring bots or sniffing data hogs, the same drive to express, invent, and ultimately connect, found a way in pursuit of ideas both humanly grand and modestly human.

“So, here’s to all the pioneers of the New Lingo who repurposed and reclaimed, laughed in the face of copyright lawyers, and invented the necessary words when established ones wouldn’t do. We will all benefit from that ability to bend language in pursuit of new human/human relationships and interactions as in-person communication sputters back into relevance.”