Bark Ode

Scott Blake's "Barcode Art" looks interesting -- it uses the icon of consumer-goods identification to create portraits of cultural icons. Just don't go to his Web site. It's a mess. But the guy's an artist, not a Web designer, so what the hey. He says he's interested in "what goes into the commercialization of individuals. My bar code portraits show what these people are made of." We're with him through Jesus and Madonna (Heh, get it, Jesus and Madonna.) but dude, what's with Paul Newman? Maybe we're just still in mourning, but still, Blake says "Paul Newman donates all of his profits after taxes to charity, but this good deed certainly does not make his bar codes off limits." OMG fuck you, Scott Blake. No, just kidding! Maybe. Oprah, yes. Charles Manson, uh, don't really get it, but OK. As usual with art, we are fully cognizant that the artist has spent hella more time thinking about it than we have, so maybe that explains why Blake needs to use our delicious hero as a whipping boy. Or maybe he's just jealous. Full disclosure: Blake made his portrait of Paul Newman a long time ago. We are just using this artist as a whipping boy because we are jealous.
Tue., Oct. 21, 6 p.m., 2008