OUR STORY

The name 42pictures comes from a story where a supercomputer is asked the meaning of life. The computer churns and churns for millions of years, before producing the answer: 42. We love this story, because for us it points to the fact that meaning is entirely in who you ask. Ask a computer, and you’re likely to get a number – 42 is as good as any. Ask someone else, and you’ll get a completely different perspective. Trying to condense the meaning of life is like trying to condense the meaning of a piece of music – you can try, but in doing so, you’re likely to miss all that makes it great.

So it is with our projects. Our hope is that we never fall into making art that we fully understand. We’re always looking for that spark that can’t be reduced. We want to explore meaning – complete with all its contradictions.

42pictures was founded in 2005 by Justin Burris McGowan, with offices in Seattle and Los Angeles.