Michael Whiting

In my visual experience, Pac-Man came before Donald Judd, Tony Smith, or even Piet Mondrian. For me, Broadway Boogie Woogie will always be an homage to Pac-Man. My work explores the visual connection between minimalism and early video games. Video gaming and minimalism arrived at the same visual conclusion through different means and opposite intentions. Early video games intended to communicate as much visual information as possible; they are minimal on account of the limits of technology. Minimalism was about the essence of the art object; it is minimal by design.

In my image making, I adhere to the constraints that governed early pixel-based technologies. I use a minimal number of squares to create an image. I form the images into shaped-steel canvases, using materials and techniques that are traditional for minimalist sculpture. Unlike minimalist art objects, mine lack a perfect finish. The worn appearance acknowledges the history of ideas and movements that preceded these objects. It also distinguishes them from those ideas and movements. The result is a pixel-based abstraction.