Alex Manea 

MÖLNÅS

UV-print on Alu-Dibond

50 x 50 cm

2024

TEXT:

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     In this series, I work with commercially optimized photographs sourced from online marketplaces. I digitally dismantle each image until only a single, unique pixel remains identifiable. I then duplicate and reinsert that pixel into the composition, deliberately placing it where it does not belong.

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     The intervention is minimal, almost imperceptible at first glance. Yet this small displacement interrupts the visual coherence of images designed for effortless consumption, revealing the constructed nature of scenes that promise comfort, desire, and perfection. What appears neutral and familiar is exposed as a carefully engineered spectacle.

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     For me, the pixel functions as both image and unit of value, a fragment through which photography no longer reflects reality but actively participates in shaping it. By disturbing the seamless surface of commercial imagery, I question how visual culture normalizes consumption and transforms desire into an economic resource.

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     Through this series, I approach the image not as documentation, but as infrastructure: a system that produces meaning, behavior, and expectation. Within this system, the misplaced pixel becomes a quiet act of resistance, a subtle reminder that what we see is never innocent, and never complete.