You may never see these famous individuals in the same light once you have seen these astonishing and extraordinary photomosaics. Together with a short history of the art form, take a journey into a world where the simple rectangle has been used to incredible and often profound effect.
Madonna Louise Made of Ciccone-Ritchie
image sourceIt is not without some irony that the constituent parts of this supremely well put together mosaic of Madonna should be constructed entirely out of pictures of the megastar herself. As one of the most self-absorbed artists of this and the last century she might even appreciate the humor herself.
The photographic mosaic - or to give it its current term, the photomosaic - is not a new art form by any means but is one which causes a stir when done properly. It usually takes the form of a photograph that has been divided in to rectangular sections. Early examples usually had evenly sized divisions but this has evolved to take in rectangles of irregular sizes, such as the one of Madonna (or as Justin Timberlake calls her, Ma-daaaar-na).
Barack Obama Made of Flags
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Who can now question the guy's patriotic credentials when it gets "flagged up" like this? Carefully made up of flags of some of the constituent states of the USA, no doubt he would give a huge thumbs up to this!
A photomosaic takes an original picture. After the division in to rectangles, each of these is replaced with a different photograph which, when reduced to a small size, has the right average color of the original.
Michael Made Up of Phelps
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Another stunning example of this genre, this photomosaic of Phelps is made up of images of himself. It would have been just as appropriate if the original pictures had been those of dolphins and other aquatic creatures!
When vied at low magnifications (that is, from afar!) the individual pixels of each photograph appear as the primary image. If you walk back from your computer (you probably already have!), the image of Phelps should look, simply, like a standard photograph of him. Although there is obviously some difference to standard digital photography when viewed from a distance it is only when one gets close up that the realization dawns just how cleverly put together these photomosacis are. The word "montage" comes immediately to mind.
Marilyn Monroe Made Out of Vanity Fair
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One of the elements that make a photomosaic stand out from others is the choice of the "secondary" photos which will make up the final image. Here, Marilyn Monroe is given a new image by the use of Italian issues of "Vanity Fair" magazine. No doubt she would read this magazine while pondering How to Marry a Millionaire or whether Gentlemen Prefer Blonds. Whatever, some will like it, some will not, but this image is hot!
As language evolves, so do the terms that we use. Originally, a photomosaic was a term coined to refer to "compound" photographs. You have probably taken such a compound yourself. Peering off the Eiffel Tower, you carefully take pictures around the perimeter of the viewing platform. When you got your film developed you then kept your fingers crossed that the photographs would seamlessly blend to give a panoramic view of Paris. They never did, of course, unless it was done professionally, but these were the first tentative steps in the art form.
Amy in Letters
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Appropriately enough, being a song writer we discover Amy Winehouse is made up of letters. Each letter is of a different size, with those on her face being made up of tiny letters. Notice that the type face used is deliberately primitive and poorly sketched. It somehow seems appropriate, rather than using something set in stone, such as Ariel or Times New Roman. Had the image been made of empty bottles of wine and surgical syringes, it couldn't have been any more effective.
Many think of the art form of the photomosaic evolving in the sixties with the advent of pop art. In fact, Russian space scientists were doing something that would fall in to the definition as early as the late nineteen fifties. They used their nascent satellites to take pictures of the moon and to create the first photographic panoramic views of the surface of the moon.
Jim Morrison in Circles on Rectangles
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This is one that works better at a distance but its component parts are rather more abstract than the others we have seen so far, even though they still form a pattern in themselves. This iconic image of Morrison has been given a new life via a twenty first century makeover, though purists would argue that the original had no need of change or tampering.
