Blogger Tyler Green isn’t the only one contemplating Facebook self-portraits lately. New York-based artist, Paul Campbell is also wondering what compels the 70 million active Facebook users to pick, or not pick, a particular profile picture.”It’s this aspect that people choose this one image that really fascinates me,” said Campbell, who has an upcoming exhibition in Toronto called “Facebook Profiles II” featuring paintings based on people’s profile images. “They’re essentially self-portraits that I project, and the projection itself distorts them, but it turns them into this painted object that makes them different from the quick image one might view online.” The exhibition at the Drabinsky Gallery in Yorkville will explore choice and intimacy in a digital world. (In May, Campbell showed the portraits in New York at Roebling Hall.) Campbell captures the spirit of the small social-networking profile pictures in his larger-than-life portrait paintings. The giant portraits, which average about 142 by 142cm are somewhat of a departure for Campbell, who over the past two decades has been better known for his abstract paintings. The artist began his Facebook series eight months ago and has done about a dozen portraits, each with its own story. (Via Solarina Ho in The Courier Mail)
“Paul Campbell: Facebook Profiles II,” Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto, Canada. June 14 – July 12. “Paul Campbell: Facebook Profiles,” Roebling Hall, New York, NY. April 10- May 10, 2008.
