Prompted by the invasion of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Defense Force (27 December 2008 - 21 January 2009), John Goto has made a new series of apparently abstract images entitled Mosaic.
Access to the conflict was denied to the international press. One common means of censoring digital images is the application of a standard graphics filter named Mosaic. Having mapped a grid across the chosen area of the picture, the filter averages the tones and colours within each rectangle. When applied by Goto to documentary images, the filter transforms them into ’abstracts’ reminiscent of the colour systems paintings made by artists Johannes Itten, Paul Klee and Max Bill.
Documentary images from the conflict that appeared on the internet were often made, not by professional photo journalists, but by eye-witnesses using mobile phones or small digital cameras. Goto explores the characteristically pixilated look to be found in such images. The artist has solved the problem of representing censored, hidden images by making double-sided prints onto single sheets of paper. Specially designed frames allow viewing from both sides. For this exhibition Goto has also created two mural size images.
John Goto would like to acknowledge the support of D-MARC Digital and Material Arts Research Centre, University of Derby.It is amazing how many images Goto managed to find of this "censored" war!
Here's a sample of his "art" - which any person even slightly familiar with computer graphics can tell you, involved absolutely no talent, and yet which Goto still needed to rely on a digital arts research center to do for him!
He's selling these prints for about $1400 each - unframed!
Because this is so successful, I am making my own on-line art exhibition of photos taken in Gaza, normally not visible to the world at large because of the sanctimonious posturings of people like Goto. It sounds like this is a pretty good racket.
My art exhibit took me all of five minutes to create, and I wish to thank a Windows paint package that was written in 1996 that happens to have a "mosaic" function (Paint Shop Pro v. 4.12):
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| Gaza's Crazy Water Park |
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| Gaza's Roots Restaurant |
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| Hamas burning American and Israeli flags in Gaza |
The limited edition, signed color original prints - reminiscent of works by Johannes Itten, Paul Klee and Max Bill - can be purchased from the Elder of Ziyon Virtual Fine Arts Museum, starting at a mere $1100 each. Such a bargain! Contact me for details. I might even throw in a frame!