I have recently seen a proliferation of photographers' websites created using the same template in LiveBooks. Sigh. The presentation is always clean and viewable, but after awhile all work melds into a single unmemorable slideshow in the same template... This is why, when I stumbled (literally, there was stumbling) across sleeth.info, I was utterly confused.

Matthew Sleeth has created an entire counterfeit world for self advertisement. Instead of maintaining a self-contained and navigable website, Sleeth has developed a page imitating Google with searchable results-- results which always lead to the same six links for Sleeth's career. The imitation continues past the links. Each link leads to a completely disconnected, diversely skinned site, such as the 'Downloads' page which looks like an illegal bit-torrent page complete with porn adverts and ugly flashing banners. Yet all links recirculate back to one of the six original links in the Sleeth network, so don't think topless women will be your end result.

I think it's an interesting to take the variegation of internet trash, information, and interest, and turn it into a single personal page. Sites have become stereotypes (the trashy illegal download site, for example) and Sleeth has appropriated these omnipresent pages and turned the tangle into his representation. Unfortunately, the tangle is what's discernible, while his work appears scattered.

I guess photo websites need a healthy balance between the mundane and absurdly intricate, otherwise the work is lost in the homogeneity or confused in the kitsch.

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