Iconoclast by Daniel Canogar - bitforms gallery

Iconoclast2026

Custom generative software, computer, screen, internet connectionDimensions variable, portrait orientationEdition of 7, 2 AP

Since ancient times, portraiture has been understood as a means of constructing the idol or the icon, often provoking significant social conflicts over who controls such representations—from the Byzantine iconoclasm of the 9th century to today’s celebrity culture. The vast reach of digital media has further shaped how idols are constructed within contemporary spaces. Iconoclast is a generative work that transforms the faces of figures holding great power and influence in 2026. Selected by AI tools, these images are extracted from online videos and reworked through a custom-made algorithm. Drawing on references such as Francis Bacon’s paintings and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the work reflects on the historical relationship between art, portraiture, and power. The piece also references Daniel Canogar’s early photographic experiments in the darkroom, evoking the stressed surfaces of prints overexposed to chemicals—resulting in cracked textures, bubbling effects, and the detachment of photosensitive emulsion. In Iconoclast, a custom algorithm dissolves the depth of video, transforming the visages of the rich and powerful into eerily painterly gestures of surface matter. Ultimately, Iconoclast confronts the mechanisms that sustain contemporary systems of representing power, pointing to the central role of the image as a device of legitimation in contemporary culture.