Pixel Martin Luther King
Coloured pencil and ink pen on paper
35 x 50 cm (13,8 x 19,7 inches)
“Pixel Martin Luther King” is part of a series of portraits intended to artistically represent a unique brain function: face recognition.
A small structure within the temporal lobes, known as the fusiform gyrus, enables us to recognize human faces with minimal detail.
In addition to drawing inspiration from Seurat and Signac, pioneers of Pointillism, this artwork is influenced by Pixel Art from the 1980s.
The choice of a well-known figure like Martin Luther King, in addition to paying tribute to his legacy, is also driven by the need to make the represented subject easily identifiable.
The selected photograph as a reference, namely Dr. King at the 1965 Selma march, compensates for the lack of details in the portrait, being part of the collective cognitive heritage.
The artwork Pixel Martin Luther King consists of 2604 hand-colored pixels.