Gnawmass

(2019 - present)

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Gnawmass is a disfigured performance of YouTube convention. 

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Gnawmass is a YouTube channel which operates within the perimeters of the website and proliferates original content that engages retroactively in an act of self mutilation. 


Born in 2005 youtube.com is now a bloated, multilayered biosphere that in 2019 boasts 1.9 billion active users. Further more, within this extensive and ever expanding framework unique, archetypal styles have mushroomed and matured; one in four of the over seven billion YouTube videos being unboxing videos. It is the particularity of those administered conventions in addition to the accidental, autobiographical moments (synonymous with YouTube's DIY aesthetic) that reveal the creators hand which Gnawmass seeks to point out and address.

Josh Vyrtz 

Josh Vyrtz (b.1992) is an artist based between London and Stoke-on-Trent working across performance, moving image, writing and image making. His work probes the idiosyncrasies of British social etiquette extrapolating upon emotive states such as panic, awkwardness and vulnerability using a ludic, highly energetic and highly saturated aesthetic style. His intention, to cast his audience as co-conspirators and together dissect pervading ideologies and construct neoteric alternatives. He regularly engages in artistic exchange with collaborative partners in addition to his work as a solo performer. He has been shortlisted for both the Kaitak Centre Residency, HK (2018) and the Red Mansion Art Prize, CHN (2017) and is a recent graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art with a Masters in Fine Art Media.

He has written, produced and performed in shows which have completed runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival including (If Civilisation, Bar Bados Project Space, 2018, w/ Axel Berger) and (PLUG FAIR / Through a glass, darkly., Bristo Square Promanade, 2017). He has exhibited internationally in Mellifluous Elephant, Donna Laura Gallery, Lisbon PT (2019) and in I love the water, Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg GE (2015) in addition to exhibiting extensively in London and across the UK. In addition, further to his creative practice he has taught developmental workshops at (Focal Point Gallery, Southend : 2018).

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