This Holographic Portrait of Keith Haring Is Like Seeing the Late Artist Resurrected

Holocenter co-founder Ana Marie Nicholson creates impressive holographic portraits of some of her favorite people.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Most people know that holograms existed long before someone came up with the idea to have Tupac and other musicians return to the stage post-mortem. Ana Marie Nicholson, co-founder of the Center for Holographic Arts, has been working with holography since 1978, so it's fair to say that she is an expert. The artist writes on her website that her work focuses mainly on the human figure and "its beauty, its complexity, and its ability to express in gesture and movement the hidden realities that lie at the core of the human spirit and heart."

During a recent visit to New York's Governor's Island, we stopped into the "Holocenter House" (open until Sept. 28) and saw what is easily one of the greatest holographic portraits ever made. On a wall next to Bishop Paul Moore and Tony Bennett was this amazing portrayal of Keith Haring from her 1997 "Portraits in Laser Light" series, which also included images of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Walter Cronkite, Gloria Steinem, David Byrne, George Plimpton, and several others. 

The video above shows a few angles of the piece, but it hardly does it justice. Holography is a very complex art form that we don't fully understand (click here to learn more about the science), but we know that Nicholson's work is dope and needs to be seen in person. She writes in a statement, "The power and impact of a holographic portrait never cease to amaze me. The medium has the ability to capture on film a much deeper sense of the person than a photograph and can reveal the reality that lies behind the façade of personality."

As a bonus, check out the interview below in which Ana Marie Nicholson discusses the medium and the things that she has been able to accomplish with it.

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