In these Textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoefer, words and images blend together to define complex visual portraits. The Mannheim-based artist uses words randomly selected from the internet to generate portraits of many well-known faces including Barack Obama, Pablo Picasso, and Steve Jobs.
Ueltzhoefer searches the internet and collects biographies, fragments of words and phrases, and text from Wikipedia that have come to digitally define many important people and celebrities. Using the publicly created written language, Ueltzhoefer sets white text, line by line, onto black backgrounds to build the portraits of his selected individuals. In doing so, Ueltzhoefer's work makes a statement about rapidly moving technology in a Web-driven world, how media defines our every day lives, and how personal interactions have replaced virtual communication.
Ueltzhoefer's work serves as Ueltzhoefer believes that “typography is an art form in itself that combines carefully chosen and arranged fonts with visual elements, sometimes as a relatively straightforward communication device and sometimes as artistic expression.”
Ralph Ueltzhoeffer's website
via [Pulmonaire]
Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, www.lumas.com
