In all our years of running My Modern Met, we've seen our share of amazing pixelated portraits. Humans (and even animals) have been made out of everything from crayons and computer keys to lipsticks and cake sprinkles. Artist Bradley Hart uses a different approach. His material of choice is one we don't often come across unless we open up a box or unwrap a delicate present. Bradley Hart works with bubble wrap.
Using ordinary syringes, Hart injects each individual bubble with acrylic paint. The process is not only time consuming, it's incredibly complex. While his finished pieces are unbelievably impressive, one can't truly appreciate his works unless one can visualize the process. Below, see behind-the-scenes pictures that show his boxes of syringes, his make-shift artist palette, or one of his paintings in progress.
From now till March 29, you can see some of Hart's works up close at gallery nine5 in New York. Called What? Where? When? Why? How?, it's Hart's first solo exhibition with the gallery.
“On the one hand, the bubble refers to dots or pixels, the building blocks of the technological world that surrounds us,” states the gallery. “Pixels on computer screens store our memories with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The process of injecting bubble wrap with paint in order to create one coherent picture, references pixilation as a combination of 1's and 0's that result in an image for us to consume. On the other hand, when a likeness of a loved one is injected into bubble wrap, the material's inherent purpose is underscored – an image is being preserved as a memory in an object that is utilized for protection and safeguarding.”
