Above Shawn Smith's "Double Dahl" (2007) crafted with plywood, ink, and acrylic paint. Below, "Schrodinger's Hat" (2009), featuring bass wood, ink, guache, acrylic paint and felt Fedora.

Is it live or is it Memorex? Or to put it in the now-and-day realm of Texas artist Shawn Smith, is it digital or is it pixelated wood?

Best to let Smith describe his craft:  

"My work investigates the slippery intersection between the digital world and reality. Specifically, I am interested in how we experience nature through technology. When we see images of nature on TV or on a computer screen, we feel that we are seeing nature but we are really only seeing patterns of pixilated light."

In recent years, Smith has created a series of works that he calls "Re-things," including whimsical sculptures of pixilated animals and objects of nature. These are generally made from recycled materials.

"In my building process, I start with a full sheet of material like plywood or MDF and cut it into 1/2-inch strips of varying lengths -- typically 1/2-inch to 2 feet long. I then hand dye each strip of wood individually with dyes mixed from ink and acrylic paint. I mix each color by hand to create a huge palette of colors in order to give the sculpture more depth and visual interest before assembling the object."

Learn more at shawnsmithart.com.