Cheers to the Global Village

January 24, 2020

One of my current, among many, obsessions is to conduct Google Image Searches of my artwork. It's a pastime that never fails to entertain, and sometimes the results are truly shocking.

It basically works by uploading an image to Google's search engine. Then, through some sort of computations that must involve a staggering amount of data processing, it will scan the world for that image wherever it may exist. Since everything in the digital domain exists as a sequence of either ones or zeroes, the program must therefore hunt until the particular sequence that makes up an image appears somewhere. The awesome technical prowess of these information systems can only be imagined. Either that or it's magic.

Since I've been an image supplier to both Shutterstock and Getty Images, these searches have yielded some fascinating results.

Recently I fed my painting "1938 Hudson" into this relentless bloodhound of a program. It found all the usual hits, like my Fine Art America page, Shutterstock, Facebook artist page, etc. But it also found this:

Somewhere in the world someone has a framed print of it on a wall. That somewhere, once I linked to the originating page, was a high-end bar in Seoul, South Korea, called the Pussyfoot Saloon.

The Pussyfoot Saloon is an Art Deco/Vintage Train/Prohibition Era bar that seems to appeal to the young business set. It was voted one of the top 50 bars in Asia.

It made sense that my '38 would have made it to their walls, based on their chosen design theme, but still I found it to be a great honour.

My 1938 Hudson is on the left at the top of the stairs.

But then, as I searched through online pics of the bar, didn't I find that two more of my pieces were on the walls. They were "The Speakeasy" and "Between Takes".

"The Speakeasy"

"Between Takes"

So there's not one but three of my works doing their bit to add to the 1930's ambiance of the Pussyfoot Saloon. They even customized "Between Takes" by adding cat paw prints across the floor and putting some kind of vest on the electrician. Rather than be offended by this, I find it all in good fun.

It delights me to no end that my artwork has ended up in such a far-flung place, and that it shows up in the background of pictures of attractive young Korean people enjoying a night out at their favorite nightclub. It all still seems a bit surreal to me...I remember most if not all of the brushstrokes that went into these pieces that once existed only on my easel, and now are routinely seen on the other side of the planet.

It's all a part of the Global Village, enabled by technological marvels, that Marshall McLuhan once spoke of. And in this instance, I raise a glass in awe of it.