Blurred Vision
At La Guardia Community College, LIC, NY.
Interacting with the image
Marty Feldman, 4' by 6', 2604 bottle caps on painted plywood. 2015.
Using a digital device to shrink the image, bringing the full image into view.
Carrie A Nation, 6' by 4', 2604 bottle caps on painted plywood. 2015.
5' by 3', 1643 bottle caps on painted plywood. 2014.
William Hamilton Anderson, 5' by 3', 1604 bottle caps on painted plywood. 2015.
The series of pixilated portraits titled Blurred Vision is an expression of my fascination with repetition and my education as a weaver. The effect of like objects organized en mass echoes this training, and though I am now working in a less edible medium, this collection was inspired by a pixilated image of our son I made with M&Ms and gave to my wife in 2009. In search of a less tasty alternative, I chose bottle caps as they provide access to a variety of colors and designs.
Pixelated images are everywhere in contemporary art, advertisement, and entertainment media. Unlike the pixilated images we all see on a television or computer screen, these objects have physical presence. As large scale 3-d objects, they can be touched and experienced. While up close the caps can appear to be haphazardly arranged on pieces of wood or in abstract fields of color, when viewed from a distance or via a digital device (which is ironic in itself), the full power of each image comes into view.
I encourage the viewer to interact with the work, photograph it, view it on a screen, look at it up close, from a distance, and from different angles. I still enjoy being surprised by it as I accidently capture a glimpse or a portrait, its reflection in a mirror, or in the background on the screen as I Skype with my parents.
Enjoy, cheers.
Midge.