In every bottle of Perrier, there are countless bubbles. Together, #ExtraordinairePerrier and The Creators Project celebrate "the extraordinary" behind some of the most fascinating artists pushing boundaries through their chosen medium, technique, and perspective. This is an ongoing series exploring those artists. You'd be forgiven for assuming that Bradley Hart's work is the product of a new Snapchat filter or extreme close-ups of a computer screen, but these hyperrealistic pixelated images are, in fact, just the opposite of high tech. Using custom algorithms, Hart injects acrylic paint into the air pockets of everyday bubble wrap stretched over the wooden frame of a traditional canvas.
The works are pointillism for the modern age. Much like the Impressionist technique of painting in small dots, Hart's style makes it challenging for viewers to go below his works' arresting bubble wrap surfaces: "People see different layers initially," Hart says. "Some people see the bubble wrap, some people see the subject, some people see environmental themes. You can't control it."
But what must be controlled when it comes to Hart's work is viewer interaction. While plastic bubble wrap has a lifespan of hundreds of years, Hart's painting suspended within it can be lost in seconds if viewers give into the temptation to pop the bubbles. The works are at once durable and fragile, a paradox the artist extends conceptually into our increasingly digital world where our online lives seem safe outside of nature, but are only a computer crash away from destruction.
Entitled Touch Me, the upcoming series will feature bubble wrap portraits of items people can't or shouldn't touch. Each image will also be accompanied by an audio recording of people remembering a time when they touched the item depicted. Viewers won't be viewing the works through their own eyes alone, but also through the experiences of others.Hart is currently soliciting audio stories to pair with the artworks on his website The Collective Memory Project where visitors are encouraged to record their recollections of touching items like a hot stove, exotic dancers, and art. Far from being a surface gimmick, Hart's usage of bubble wrap is a sophisticated and increasingly imaginative exploration of preservation, memory, and the limits of audience interaction with artwork.To learn more about Thirst for the Extraordinary, click here.Related:Bradley Hart Reinterprets Classical Paintings (With Bubble Wrap)
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