Packing Tape art

Mark KhaismanStills from the movies, images ripped from the Internet or books — they're all fair game for Philadelphia-based tape artist Mark Khaisman.

"My works are always images of images, " Khaisman wrote in an email to Business Insider. He sticks strips of the classic brown packing tape (and sometimes translucent colored versions) to an acrylic lighted panel, and layers it to create a pixelated piece of pop art. He's not afraid to remove a strip of tape if he doesn't like how he's placed it.

"The whole process is reminiscent to the darkroom photo development in the pre-digital era, " Khaisman said. "In a way, as my hands do the job, my mind is witnessing the appearance of the image."

"I watch a lot of old movies, " Khaisman wrote, "They are pretty much merged into one movie in my head, from which I'm picking some random fragments out of the context of their origin."Mark Khaisman

Old film inspires his work because of its strong play with light and shadow.Mark Khaisman

"I like the sense of confusion and uncertainty in the film noir genre, " Khaisman wrote. "The characters there are neither good or bad, they are victims of their situations."Mark Khaisman

He started making portraits with tape after working with stained glass.Mark Khaisman

Working with translucent color tape allows Khaisman to play more with the lighting and layering.Mark Khaisman

He calls his tape art "painting with light."Mark Khaisman

Khaisman has a degree from the Moscow Architectural Institute in Russia. Mark Khaisman

"From one side, my images are constructed and calculated, " he wrote. "As I work, I constantly deal with managing scale, figuring out ratios, counting layers."Mark Khaisman

In a new series of works, Khaisman represented the famous Birkin Bag in different colors.Mark Khaisman

• Packing Paper Sheets
• Packing Tape people
• Packing Paper target