About this work

In a world moulded by social and online media, everything has become digitized. In its primal core, all internet information and imagery is nothing more than 1’s and 0’s (binary code). Digital media in reality is a sort of magic… we transform these mathematical 1’s and 0’s into imagery. It is not celluloid or tangible, but it is the main platform to how we experience people and information. To this extent, humanity has experienced a phantom transformation. In a sense, all ‘online’ or digital experiences are illusions or figments of the imagination. The ability to transform oneself in the digital world is endless; be it by altering your online diary to create the appearance of an ideal life, adding the quick filter to make your selfie a little more sexy or by inserting an invasive hashtag to elevate the setting. This virtual transformation forms the basis for my body of work.

My process of art making is to modernize the traditional portrait by mechanically etching it into text. The digitized rendition transforms and re-invents the subject. When constructing the portrait the conventional process of paintbrush to canvas is eliminated. I make a stamp by using foam letter cut outs. I assemble a name or word which has a connection with my subject. I continuously stamp and layer the print, working almost ‘blind’ but mindful of structure and tonal values. The process might seem very mechanical, however, the formation of the image is very organic as I cannot dictate exactly how the stamps form the portrait. The image finally emerges, transformed in a coded and industrialized web of paint.

‘Chyron’ the definition been: an electronically generated caption superimposed on a television or cinema screen. He used a colour palette that screemed 80’s and early 90’s. Claude created stencils mimicing symbols found on early windows software to emphasise this aesthic.