Gardner Post 86* FAV (1964–2023)
From Charlotte Post, Gardner's sister:
I am sad to share the passing of my brother Gardner Post in February 2023. I know he had many classmates that supported him in the early days of his artistic career and I wanted to share a part of his obituary.
On February 19th, 2023, the art world lost a visionary. Gardner Post was an innovator, humorist, technologist and revolutionary media artist. He was a standout artist from a very young age. His creative and thought-provoking ideas lead to very original and influential art that was exhibited in museums and galleries world-wide including The Tate in Britain, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe and MIT’s List of Visual Arts Center. His favorite mediums were video and sculpture, and he enjoyed bringing these two together to create incredible interactive productions. Gardner’s time at RISD was spent studying film, animation and video, as well as collaborating with roommate Joshua Pearson on innovative multimedia projects including their company, Pearson Post Industries. PPI created Model Apartment, a residence that was slated to be razed and free to alter in outrageous and creative ways. Pearson and Post Industries was billed as "Issue Artists (who) think it's neat to ridicule big business." Next evolved Emergency Broadcast Network (EBN) “the arts and entertainment division of the U.S. military.” EBN was a performance group that appeared internationally at clubs and festivals including Lollapalooza, Ars Electronica and Serious Fun.
EBN performances were multimedia spectacles, characterized by sensory overload that featured fantastical props that Gardner designed and built. Under the TVT Record label, EBN released albums featuring guest performances by Brian Eno, Bill Laswell and Grandmaster Melle Mel, and created videos for the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. EBN produced visuals for U2's 1992 ZOO TV tour, where their video of George Bush rapping “We Will Rock You,” by Queen opened every concert worldwide. He influenced a generation of art students, hip-hop artists, new media artists and specifically up and coming music video creators. He was a cherished and devoted friend who had an ability to get you to think about the world around you in unique, sometimes profound and always humorous ways. His work can be seen on both EBN’s and his personal YouTube channels.
