Internet Art History

Remembering the Distracted Boyfriend Meme, the Defining Meme of Our Generation

The latest instalment of 'Internet Art History', where meme historian Joel Golby dives far too deep into some of the internet's most iconic images.

Traditionally, only a select group of people could define something as "art". Gallerists, the art school elite, those high-minded European aesthetes who didn't seem to do much besides wearing thin scarves at Mayfair private views. But it's not the 1970s anymore! If you think something is art, it is!

Case in point: the many images to have been posted online that make you feel something; that make you react emotionally and maybe even physically. Because what is art if not an image that moves you in some way?

Remember the distracted boyfriend meme? Of course you do. That image moved VICE contributor Joel Golby so profoundly that he's done a video about it, the latest in a new series – Internet Art History – where we take a deep-dive into some of the most iconic images ever posted online.