The seemingly abstract paintings originate from photographs selected to represent the identity and worldview of the artist. Using a custom-built painting machine, the intimate portfolio was subjected to a series of manipulations and encodings to the point of unrecognizability.
Hyperreality, a term coined by Jean Baudrillard, blurs the distinction between reality and representation. In today's digital world some of our fundamental human needs - for self-representation, communication, and belonging - are met through hyperreality. In return for a momentary satisfaction of our thirst for contact, we often consent to pay the price of being watched, monitored, and controlled. While surveillance has many dimensions, Hyperreality focuses on our rooted compliance with it.
Dozens of images were selected from hundreds of thousands the artist captured over decades. These photos span everyday scenes, special occasions, loved ones, and passing strangers. Some show city strolls or nature outings, while others document artworks or political rallies. A few are intimately personal. Narrowing it down to one image out of every thousand is a subjective process, ultimately reflecting how the artist views the world.
Once an image is selected, it undergoes a series of digital manipulations: the original high-resolution photo is reduced into dots that capture its essence, with pixel colors filtered and simplified into a limited palette inspired by stained glass. Next, these processed pixels are translated into machine-readable instructions for a large painting machine custom-built by the artist. This machine uses a paintbrush, pumping ink and steering its movements via electric motors - an imperfect process that embraces randomness, creating visible brush fibers and stray ink drops. Paradoxically, these mechanical “errors” lend the drawings a human touch. The result is an abstract image drawn from data - simultaneously mechanical and human, figurative yet far from the source - a Hyperreality.
Installation
Technique: Painting machine (electronics, mechanics, software), ink on vinyl
The piece transforms digital data into physical paintings, building on Segal’s earlier works This Is Not a Typewriter and Random Walk 2.0.
Special thanks to Shoshana Wayne Gallery.
The paintings were placed on the Wende Museum’s windows, each with a distinctive title that hints at the source of its coded image. These titles appear on the enclosed map.