In my visual experience Pac-man came before Donald Judd, Carl Andre or even Mondrian. For me Broadway Boogie Woogie will always be an homage to Pac-man. My current 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 by opposite intentions. Early video gaming, or pixel based imaging, did not intend to be simple or minimal. It intended to communicate as much visual information as possible. The images are minimal for lack of technology. Minimalism on the other hand, created objects that were minimal by design. These two separate movements had quite opposite intentions with very similar visual results.

I limit my image making to the same constraints that governed early pixel based technologies. I use a minimal number of squares to create an image. The images are formed into shaped steel canvases. The works I create are constructed using materials and techniques traditionally used to build minimalist sculpture. The result is a pixel based abstraction.

www.michaelwhiting.com

http://www.plusgallery.com/artists/whiting/