After The Mona Lisa 1, 2005
425 spools of thread, aluminum ball chain and hanging apparatus, clear acrylic sphere, steel stand
30” h x 21” w

Description: a life-sized rendering of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The work is constructed from only 425 spools of thread resulting in extremely low image resolution. Yet when seen with an optical device, the thread spools condense into a blurred yet recognizable image, conveying how little information the brain needs to make sense of visual imagery.

This concept was explored by self-described "Cyberneticist," Leon Harmon of Bell Labs in 1973. His early pixilated image was included in an article for Scientific American in November 1973, titled "The Recognition of Faces" as a demonstration of the minimum conditions needed to recognize a face.

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