I started making art with barcodes right before Y2K, inspired by the year 2000 computer bug, and threatening digital apocalypse. Barcode Jesus was born in Photoshop, by creating mosaics with simple shapes. I first tried circles and then squares. The tile patterns morphed into a cluster of lines, and before I knew it, I was staring at a bunch of barcodes. I assigned the numbers to describe each pixel's grayscale value and grid coordinate. I have since made 30 portraits of cultural icons from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Andy Warhol. See also at T.O. Garcias: http://www.roundus.com/listing/824/#6