Paint Chip Portraits Featured in Children's Museum of the Arts Public-Generated Public Art Exhibit

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- What started as simple pen-drawn doodles of interesting characters more than two years ago has quickly evolved into a public artform focused on blending in with its surroundings. Dubbed "Paint Chip Portraits," they can be spotted all around the New York City urban landscape and wherever else the artist happens to travel. But spotting them can be challenging, because they're all "just trying to blend in."

While these unobtrusive portraits may be fleeting in the face of weathering the elements and human intervention, they are rendered enduring on www.PaintChipPortraits.com. The site not only displays photographs of these portraits in their surroundings, it also maps their locations.

The artist behind the work is recent Parsons graduate Aria McManus, whose Paint Chip Portrait works are now featured in the "Public-Generated Public Art Library" exhibit at the Children's Museum of the Arts (CMA) (http://makeartinpublic.com/new-york/aria-mcmanus).  As CMA describes it, "The process involves drawing illustrations on found paint chip samples, and placing them in the city wherever their color is found. Once installed, the artist takes photos and maps the locations with Google."

Statement by the artist:

This project is a new take on graffiti and public art. In contrast to conventional techniques that are about staking a territory or making a physical mark, this project focuses on making discreet pieces of art which become a part of their surroundings.

I do this by drawing ink portraits on small pieces of colored paper and position them in places where the color blends into the surrounding environment. Counterbalancing the temporal nature of the public art, photos of the pieces in their environments are taken and mapped on an interactive site, making their mark lasting and their territory clear.
 

This project started as doodles and grew into public display by sharing and pasting these pieces throughout various cities. This quickly evolved into color matching, as if placing the images in their "home" where the characters are just trying to blend in. I then brought the project into the web medium, sharing the photographs of Paint Chip Portraits on the website as a way of cataloguing them. I explored the further use of technology and the web to create a geographically mapped record that allows people to see the whereabouts of the Paint Chip Portraits while turning the physically fleeting into a lasting concept. 

For more information, please contact the artist: Aria McManus at paintchipportraits@gmail.com

Media Contact: Rebecca McManus McManus Marketing LLC, 651-375-2316, mcmanus.becky@gmail.com

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SOURCE McManus Marketing LLC

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.PaintChipPortraits.com