Sheila Drefahl’s [BFA ’24] exhibit “There is much pain in this world but not in this room” in Union South’s Gallery 1308 includes dozens of paintings of viral images.

Drefahl embarked on “There is much pain in this world but not in this room” after seeing positive responses to the usage of pop icons in her previous pieces. One piece depicts a fuzzy creature sitting next to a large strawberry with a bite taken out of it. In a nonsensical pop culture reference to the song “Life is Good” by rapper Future, text at the top of the painting says “CHILLIN ON A” while text at the bottom reads “A WEEKEND LIKE USUAL.”

“I think I’m just really drawn to digital culture,” Drefahl said. “I mean, everyone relates to it these days.”

Drefahl finds inspiration for her work in mundane online scrolling. This process leads to her painting both viral images like a horse captioned “We’re so back” and a UW–Madison student passed out with a bag of Doritos.

“I have a folder in my camera roll where I collect things whenever I see them,” she said. “I think the things I paint feel like they are kind of taking a screenshot of the way that people interact online.”

Drefahl said she tries to pick out subject matter based on how accessible and comprehensible the meme is for a general audience. One painting of hers that didn’t make the cut depicted a girl dressed as an Oompa Loompa from the Glasgow Willy Wonka experience, which she said she felt was too niche.

This dedication to accessibility led to animals being a common theme in the exhibition.