Noma Bar
Monday July 19, 2010 at 8:00PM
They say a photograph is worth a thousand words, but how many words can a computerized portrait be worth? Using simple but thought provoking and often controversial symbols, graphic artist and Israeli national Noma Bar has been creating unique caricature portraits of celebrities and public figures such as Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, George W. Bush, and Sadaam Hussein for more than 2 decades. He aims to tell silent stories through his portraits, even though the detail is minimal and the color schemes are often bold and simplistic. His inspiration for his portraits often comes from staring at symbols for prolonged periods of time and finding a way to combine someone of interest’s face, personality, values, and lifestyle into the symbol. For instance, one of his first and most well known works is a portrait of Sadaam Hussein where he used a biohazard symbol to replace Sadaam’s facial features; primarily his eyes and thick mustache. Using the negative space technique and only 3 colors, the finished product looks strikingly like Sadaam, and sends a clearly defined message as well. Another piece depicts a bust of George W. Bush with what appears to be a priest in the negative space where his eyes and nose should be. Again, only using 2 colors and delivering an impactful and clearly defined message using very little. One of the best parts about Noma’s work is that each piece is highly interpretive, and requires viewers to use their imagination. He has illustrated over 60 magazine covers, and has published over 550 illustrations. To date, he has published 2 books featuring all original works; 2007’s “Guess Who” and more recently “Negative Space” in 2009.