I would put this in my home in a fleeting instant. 

paintedetc:

In the Elevator, Enda O’Donoghue

PAINTING FROM INTERNET

The internet is made up of quickly forgotten things.

That may explain why the German-based Irish artist Enda O’Donoghue likes to immortalize them in paint. Exclusively by other people, and discovered on popular online social networks and blogs on an ongoing basis, the photographs upon which he bases his paintings tend to look like throwaways, the kind of thing we snap with our increasing numbers of cameras and camera-phones, and post online, rarely to be seen again.

O’Donoghue even digs into their provenance, tracing the pictures’ ownership and requesting permission to use them, which is a strategy not just for coping with a fluid understanding of copyright online but for reversing the web’s anonymous ways.

At Triangulation, he talks about his process, and shares a kind of how-to video.

“A huge influence on my work has come from my own background both from studying computer programming for almost three years and also working in web design, web development, video editing, online marketing and other Internet and multi-media type work. All of that has effected not only the images that I choose and the source of these images but also has a direct influence on the way my process has developed.

The original photo was found on a photo sharing website. Like all with all my recent work the source was someone else’s photograph, found online while searching and surfing. I collect photos on an ongoing basis and categorize and catalogue them. When I find one that I wish to work with I attempt to make contact with the original photographer and request their permission to use their photo for my work. This is often met with complete surprise because I tend not to be asking for their “best” photos, in fact often they think I am asking for their worst. When each painting is completed I make a point of sending a photo of the painting back to the original photographer, and in some cases this brings the image back to its source in a way…”

Someday most painting may be this way – not still lifes, but still internets.

- Alex_Pasternack