Alex guofeng cao biography of barack

          Alex Guofeng Cao, the artist behind the amazing, large-scale photomosaic portraits of JFK and Jackie that he donated to the Museum a decade.

          Chinese, b....

          Alex Guofeng Cao

          Chinese, b. 1969

          Originally born in China, Cao moved to the United States with his family in the 1980s. Today, he works and lives in New York City. Cao’s most recent series of images are monumentally-sized pixilated images of well-known celebrities and historical figures.

          The familiar images are easily recognized but not so easily taken in.

          At first demanding distance, the monumental image pushes the viewer away.

          The portrait is a famous black and white photograph of President John F. Kennedy but each small pixel of the portrait consists of a tiny image of Jacqueline.

        1. His portrait of Barack Obama consists of thousands of Abraham Lincolns, while a photograph of a starving child in Sudan is built from the smiling face of Jimmy.
        2. Chinese, b.
        3. Large-scale photomosaic portrait mounted on acrylic titled JFK vs.
        4. Alex Guofeng Cao dazzles audiences with his unique twist on instantly recognizable images.

          5. One is quickly drawn in close, however, by the pixels, which are iconic images in themselves. Jackie makes up JFK, the Mona Lisa composes Marilyn Monroe, Courbet’s L’Origine du Monde becomes Pamela Anderson. The dialogue between the two images presents another layer to be deciphered.

          In some cases, carefully chosen codes and clues are inserted in strategic locations as a reminder of the events and situations in which these characters were involved.

          The histories and backgrounds of each of the characters are deliberately pitted against