Excel-art: the series taking aim at corporate culture
“Shine” (2009) by Oleksiy Sai
For Kyiv-based artist Oleksiy Sai, there has always been something surreal about the business world. While trying to unearth a global corporate culture, he turned his attention to Microsoft Excel — the beloved software tool of managers everywhere — to recreate scenes of office life.
“The data I use as elements of visual language can be clearly understood by a person [working within] corporate culture, [which is] perhaps the youngest well-defined culture of humanity,” Sai explains on his website.
“Brave” (2019)
“Adoration” (2013)
“Black Clouds 2” (2019)
Simply named Excel-art, Sai’s ongoing series started back in 2008. The images evoke memories of sleep-deprived managers crammed into sleek steel elevators, stepping out into a new domain of freshly-cleaned grey carpet. Sai’s office buildings are half lit to accentuate the perpetual service of their staff as they move between the ritual arenas of desk, canteen, and printing room.
Sai’s attempt to mock a corporate culture, still seen as flawless in the minds of millions, can also be spotted in the names of individual artworks. “Common Joy” depicts hundreds of workers toiling in an open plan office, while “Adoration” sees a woman bowing an exhausted head over a photocopier.
More works from the series are available at Sai’s website.
“Sphere of Segmentation” (2010)
“Common Joy” (2008)
