“The World`s First Internet Painting”.
Milwaukee, WI (PRWEB) March 28, 2006 — He’s 26, and has never owned a car. Now, Milwaukee artist, Jon Baas plans to use his creativity to take an old idea, make it new, and buy his first car using nothing but his originality, entrepreneurial spirit, and the help of 5400 online artists.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jon Baas set up paintmypixels.com to answer the simple question, “Can thousands of artists all over the world work together to create a single painting, using only small blocks of colored pixels?” Through the creativity of those thousands of participants, Baas intends to host “The World’s First Internet Painting”, gather enough funds to pay for his first car, upgrade his wardrobe, and enhance his professional acting career with a new set of photographic headshots.
“I have two strong passions in life,” Jon commented, “acting, and art. And I’m always trying to find ways to be creative with both. So, since I have a few goals that I want to achieve right now, and I like to share the fruits of my creativity with others, I figured a creative experiment was the best way to combine both of them. I’m not looking to make a million dollars, just share my talents, and reach a few goals at the same time.”
With “Paint My Pixels” each participant is encouraged to view the online pixel space as a unique painting. They observe the progress of the composition, select a 100-pixel square anywhere on that canvas, and choose a solid color to fill that space. Then for $1, they can add their own “brush stroke” to the artwork, and, if they so desire, even link that square to a website of their choice.
When all 5400 color squares are filled with color, Baas will paint a real canvas painting based entirely upon the final internet composition. He plans to sell the finished canvas painting at auction and allow everyone an equal opportunity to own the final creative piece of “The World`s First Internet Painting“. He also intends to offer prints of each work, as well as archive both the original pixel composition and images of his canvas painting in a gallery on his website. If there is still interest in the project following the first-pixel painting, Baas hopes to begin again with a second.
“And,” he adds, “throughout the course of the experiment, I also plan to offer a few surprises, gifts, and a chance to uncover each artist’s hidden creativity. It’s my way of giving back to those who have given their time and support in helping me compose this experiment and build my first car.”
One of those supporters is Hakan B., an early participant, and smalltime weblogger. “This page needed some attention,” he comments. “I’ve been using computers since 1992 and using the internet since 1998. This means that I’ve used BBS’es, loved ASCII art… and seen the rise of postmodern computing. Sometimes I miss those early years of simplicity. This site reminded me of those things and I dived in with an insane instinct. “I should get a small retro place in this site ‘cos I remember the smell of this”.”
Asked later if this idea is just another pixel site, Baas added with a smile, “No, not at all. Pixel Ad sites sell advertising. I’m offering simple creative thinking strategies to grow your Art Potential. Advertising is all well and good, but I wanted to take the pixel idea and have a little fun with it. Besides, advertising comes and goes. Art lasts forever.”
