Editor’s note: The following article contains language some readers may find offensive.

M.F.A. photography candidate Blake Shell’s provocatively titled thesis exhibition, “I’m not an asshole. I just play one on the Internet,” is on display at Pics Gallery through Nov. 30.

“ The title is very reflective of the concept,” said Shell. “The Internet is a new mode of communication, even further removed than the telephone. People can create new personalities without the consequences of face-to-face interaction. The Internet allows people to pretend on a whole new level.” Shell also admitted that the shock inherent in the exhibition title’s vulgarity is not without value. “People look at art so frequently [in Savannah.] It is very difficult to catch their attention,” he said. “I hope the title will startle people enough to make them want to really look at the work, not just pass it by.”

Those willing to take the time to look at Shell’s work will be met with abstract color images appropriated from the Internet and manipulated with Adobe Photoshop. Although Shell is a photography major, he never once used a camera when creating the pieces now on display. “Instead, I used a keyboard command to take a ‘snapshot’ of the screen and then altered the image,” he said. “They all were created within the computer.”

Shell’s work is interested in new and old forms of technology — from the telephone to the Internet — and the impact on the way people communicate and interact. “As cultures are submerged into a global society and populations grow exponentially, behavioral patterns are thrown off,” he said. “Ideals shift and new generations lose touch with previous ways of communicating, more and more rapidly.”

The computer photographer’s ultimate interest, however, is in the nature of the Internet itself, and he is anything but undecided about where he stands in relation to the rapid changes caused by the phenomenon. “The digital world, with all of its loved and hated qualities, is the greatest example of altered communication to date,” he said. “It is used for all purposes, from the silliest to the most shockingly dangerous. The Internet is a method of communication, reflecting humanity and all of its subcultures, as well as a catalyst for new ways of thinking and living.”

“I’m not an asshole. I just play one on the Internet” is on display at Pics Gallery, 2427 Desoto Ave., through Nov. 30.