Doug Smithenry's paintings ask the viewer the thorny question, are you a nobody? As the Internet continually provides venues for people to self-promote, self-define, self-fulfill and control their own digital worlds, it no small wonder that one's feeling of self-importance might increase while living in one's head, alone, and gazing at electronic screens. These paintings reflect images of people, appropriated from vlog sites and image banks, who are engaged in self-absorbed behavior before their computers. Smithenry explores the notion that while we engage in a search for significance online, most of us have to live with the stark fact that neither fame nor notoriety will ever find us. Hopefully, this body of work moves the viewer to ponder the "nobody question" by considering how our technology consumes and distracts us from our off-line pursuits that ultimately make us the "somebodies" we are.
