Artist Statement
Pixelism
The portmanteau “pixelism,” may be the best word to describe my body of work. It is a mix of two words: pixel and pointillism. In a way, all digital prints are pointillist, because the surface of the paper is colored with billions of dots of color (pixels) to produce the image. I have taken this reality a step further by enlarging each pixel, and transforming it into the major element in each piece. The process I use is the driving engine in these works. I start with a digital image, used as mere ingredient. I take this image and breathe life into the still image with different levels of excessive color saturation, compression artifacts, and over-the-top sharpening. The result is an abstract image that has taken on a new feel most unlike the original subject. It has become something far more beautiful while basically maintaining the original compositional layout. The images now have been subjected to every bad idea in digital photography but have yielded a very dynamic, wonderful piece. In this way I try to infuse a new life into these images, much like digital art introduces new life into the art world at large. Usually the goal in digital photography is to closely follow traditional film photography and produce a file so perfect, you’d think it was professional, and not “just some inkjet print.” But my goal is to alter people’s perception of the digital print as a medium. In my work, the pixel as the building block of any digital image is laid bare and celebrated. I have attempted to create an overlying sense of the limitless possibilities of each simple pixel, and digitally generated art as a whole.
-Chris Thompson
