Potato Head – Low
£1,200
These conceptual, yet representational oil paintings depict subjects transposed from digital photographs into gridded, impressionist renderings. In as many as 11,000 unique and painterly strokes of a single colour, a delicate balance has been struck to render all subjects on the border of legibility. Here each mark represents the average of all colour values within the given square.
In an attempt to free up the style the artist has reverted back to the naive and playful technique of using a potato stamp for each mark.
Across modern society 54,400 photographs are taken every second. This equates to 1.72 trillion per year. In a nod to the unprecedented volume of digital data these depictions pay homage to more classical masterpieces.
Low resolution is a relative term. Compared to a high-resolution image, low-resolution images have fewer pixels, higher compression, or both. They sacrifice quality of the image for a smaller file size. Low-resolution rasterised images, such as photographs, may appear blurry or indistinct. Here we see a classical interpretation of the means via which many of us see the world around us.
Used throughout history many famous artists have used the Grid Method for drawing including M.C. Escher, Leonardo Da Vinci and Van Gogh. The grid method involves drawing a grid over your reference image or photo, and then creating a grid of equal ratio on the artists paper, canvas or wood panel. The artist then transfers the image onto the canvas, focusing on one square at a time, until the entire image has been transferred.
Oil on paper
59cm x 42cm