Ghost I

This work is the result of a reflection on the well-known video game PAC-MAN, trying to explore the possible parallels between it and our current society. It is a deconstruction of one of the game's ghosts. The first work in the 'GHOSTS' series.
Normally, when we talk about PAC-MAN, we all focus on the main element, a big yellow bogeyman whose goal is to feed himself as best he can, trying to survive while avoiding the presence of a series of coloured ghosts that are trying to kill him.
In my personal reinterpretation, this bogeyman would play the role of the middle class, trying to work hard every day while dodging all kinds of ghosts. But what is really interesting is that sooner or later, just like in the game, there comes a moment of opportunity when the roles are reversed. It's a short period of time, but now the ghosts are running, and if PAC-MAN is prepared, he can win the game thanks to this window of opportunity. The important thing is not to stop trying, as your time will always come.
The two eyes we see represent this duality, the hunter and the hunted. At the top right of the composition we see a face in profile, observing from its position of superiority, the hunting ghost. A little lower, different levels of reddish colour allow us to see an attentive, frightened eye, the hunted ghost. I tried to create a balance between the aesthetics of this type of game, with its straight shapes that remind us of pixels, and the superimposition of curves and volumes with light and shadow that give depth and dynamism to the work. The blue line at the bottom right of the screen recalls the blue borders of the original game panel.

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Alejandro Rodríguez Plaza, known by his nickname 'Plaza', is a professional visual artist born in Madrid (Spain) in 1992 and currently an Australian citizen living between Sydney, Madrid and Andalucia.

He is an architect with an absolute passion for painting and is fascinated by everything that can be framed in the field of 'creation'. His life has always revolved around the plastic arts in all their variations, starting with the urban art of 'graffiti' in the streets of his native Madrid from a very young age.
He has developed an artistic concept that mixes classical and contemporary pictorial elements with a unique sensitivity in the use of pure forms and colours, creating iconic and suggestive images. They are almost always linked to themes in which he tries to offer a new vision of the elements of nature, among which he repeatedly includes physical figures.
“Architecture has given me the opportunity to order all these visions, to put them into context, and somehow to tame the wild and disorderly artist, which is sometimes very necessary in creative processes. Sometimes I thought I was wrong to choose architecture over fine art, but in the end I understood that it was important to cultivate my creativity and ability to abstract. After all, architects are constantly working with flat, abstract visions that are representations of real, three-dimensional elements. This is the principle on which many of my creations are based. Figuration and abstraction, volumes and two-dimensional elements, with the language of colour as the common thread.”
“My art is strongly influenced by Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Neo-Figurative Painting, Pop Art... although I see myself as a chameleon-like artist who is constantly learning. I find myself at this point of search, although I believe I will always be in this eternal search that comes with a commitment to creation.”
“If I had to place myself within a pictorial trend, I couldn't make a choice, but I could tell you that many of my creations are influenced by Cubism, Neo-Figuration, Impressionism, Surrealism. As artistic references I could mention Vasiliy Ryabchenjo, Franz Ackermann, Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo, Keith Haring, Anthony Lister, Francis Bacon, Saura, Juan Gris, Turner in his motion captures and, of course, Picasso.”