What is the emotional motivation behind your art?

Interesting question — The answer is multifold:

First and foremost, I've an untreatable addiction to and fascination with technology, nature, science and mathematics. I love to learn and explore, too — So much so that you can say I’m compulsive about it.

I also love to fiddle with found objects much like a tinkerer or junk collector; only my found objects are primarily binary and exist in my computer. (Although I also am a collector of physical ‘stuff’ as well and enjoy repairing and using old things in new ways.)

I love color and texture. Creating complex patterns, staring at and photographing oil slicks and rust spots, creating seamless tiles/textures, playing with reflective materials, fiddling with kaleidoscopes and similar physical and/or virtual tools, and creating and using fractals in my work are ways that I satisfy my cravings for color and texture. I am definitely a visually stimulated person and am always looking for the next feast for my eyes.

Finally, while I enjoy and am inspired by the company of others I also enjoy and am inspired by the company of my computer. Using my computer to do things — both mundane and artistic — really makes me happy. My computer is, quite literally, an extension of me. Most artists complain about the unnatural feel of using computer-based tools to be creative, but for me it’s quite the opposite; my computer enables me to be more creative and explore places I would not normally be able to go if I limited myself to just the physical world!

So, ultimately, the art that I create is the result of my explorations and hunt for found objects, delicious colors and interesting patterns.

Granted, quite a few of my images also happen to be directed explorations with specific requirements set forth by a client, but even in those there is usually some element of serendipitous discovery or the application of a new and cool technique that yielded a pleasing and unexpected result.

What media do you prefer?

Digital, of course (although, it isn’t quite accurate to label ‘digital’ as a media).

Digital isn’t really a medium so much as it is a set of tools. The physical medium, or output, that can ultimately result from the use of digital tools is limitless.  New ways to output, or physically manifest, digital information are found every day. Take, for example, the robotic painting machine that Christian Seidler, fine artist and founder of the Matricism Art Movement, invented to realize his creations. The tools he uses to compose his Matricism masterpieces are digital, yes, but the final result is a traditional-media oil painting, an original creation that is as unique as a painting created using human-powered tools (e.g. hands and brush).

How long have you been creating art?

Since I could hold a pencil.

However, and in seeming conflict with my love of doodling, I spent the early part of my adult life as an Electrical Engineer, so there wasn't much conventionally recognized art going on during that period. (I do believe that engineering and the sciences are their own form of art... But that's a discussion for another time.)

I really only started doing art professionally and in the conventional sense a few years ago. It wasn't until the personal computer had enough horse power to calculate the complex shapes and patterns I wanted to create that I actually considered Art seriously as a career choice. While I did enjoy doodling, I never had the burning desire to be a traditional-media artist who used watercolor pigments or oil pigments on canvas and paper.

(I do recall, way back in the day, having to tie up my computer for weeks at a time to render one fairly-complex, 1024x768 pixel fractal. To give you an idea of how far we’ve come, that same fractal would take only a few seconds to calculate on today’s standard home-pc-class technology!)

What is your preferred subject matter and why?

I don't feel that I am compelled to create, or necessarily prefer one particular subject. I’m not a ‘landscape artist’ or a ‘portrait artist’ if that’s what you mean. Rather, as a commercial illustrator much of what I do is dictated by clients so the subject varies tremendously.  Stylistically I tend toward surreal and have quite a few horror genre covers and illustrations under my belt but I don’t really feel that I am a ‘surreal artist’ or a ‘horror artist’ either.

For me the good news is that even though the art that I create is usually initiated as a direct result of job requirements (as dictated by clients), I almost always end up with more than one finished piece for any given job. Often I create several concept pieces that, while not exactly appropriate for that particular job, are interesting in their own right that I end up finishing. Some of what I consider my best work has been created in this parallel-process way.

I will admit that portraits are something I find pleasant and I do them for the fun of it. I have a fascination with faces and human face recognition mechanisms. I am also attracted to eyes, both human and other. Why I do so many portraits is partly the result of my fascination with faces and partly because I use a program called Poser, curiouslabs.com, which makes portraits a whole bunch of fun. Without this software, however, I might just as easily gravitate toward something else when I’m just goofing around — You know “give a kid a hammer…”

By sheer numbers, however, it would appear that my favorite art subject is mathematics (fractals). I've over ten-thousand (!) fractals that I liked well enough to save for later exploration. It would be safe to say that I am a collector of fractals and they are one type of found object that give me hours and hours of pleasure; hunting for them and using them to create other, more complex art pieces.

I've rendered about a thousand of these favorite fractals and made them available on line at my fractal web galleries: freaky-fractals.com and mysticalmandalas.com. Eventually I hope to get all my fractals rendered and uploaded to share with everyone.

I've been exploring art made with fractals for quite some time. I’m not just talking about fractals as art but using fractals to enhance art; as 3-dimensional objects in art; employing fractal algorithms to define object like trees and cloud formations in the sky and fractal patterns used to define rock textures and alien skin, even; using fractals as one of the fundamental building blocks to create richer and more complex work.

Could you tell me a little about yourself?

Personality assessment tests indicate I am neither predominantly left or right brained in my thinking. This is somewhat unusual in that most people tend to rely on one side or the other for their gut-instincts, personal preferences, and methods for handling new situations and perceptions. This middle-of-the-brain thinking probably explains why I am as happy designing a factory information system as I am doodling with my cyber-crayons.  The act of creation for me can come from either side of my brain and is as satisfying in either form it takes; theoretical or more conventionally artistic.

My middle-brain tendency probably explains too why I was perfectly happy with getting my degree in engineering rather than in a classically artistic arena. Although, I wasn't ever really attracted to the circuits and practical electronics side of the electrical engineering curriculum as much as I was attracted to the theory and math behind it all. I found I had a real taste for system design and enjoyed the classes where there were no right answers, and intuition and gut feel played a large part in getting the point of the exercise.

With my degree in electrical engineering, I was gainfully employed as a systems integrator. After a few years of this type of work, I started my own company. At the peak of this venture I had a handful of engineers working with me doing installations at various factories around the country. It was fun but rather a harsh environment with lots of holidays spent away from home, and almost all 3rd shift and weekend work. In addition to the long and odd hours, the job carried a fair amount of stress in the form of tight production deadlines and payroll commitments.

I got tired of the high stress, grueling hours and travel so I stopped burning the candle at both ends and closed down the integration business. I downscaled to a solo operation and focused more on the gentle art of office automation and building control systems rather than on factory floor systems. This allowed me to get back into a relatively normal work routine and spend more time at home. It proved a good move and provided a great path for decompressing and regaining my sense of humor, eventually.

Right about then I discovered, much to my delight, that while I'd been busy dweebing my life away, personal computing technology and software had advanced to the point where people were actually doing some spiffy and complicated things. That is when I did a major re-evaluation of my life. And, once I was satisfied that the technical foundation existed, I jumped into art and illustration as a profession and I haven't looked back.

My primary focus is really on Art: The creation of it, sharing it, enabling it, and enjoying other people's creations. I am on the constant look out for new markets for digitally created art specifically, and am a strong believer in the use of print on demand technologies to expand revenue streams for artists of all medias/genres in general. Most of what I do can be directly traced to my goals of finding new markets and support structures for artists of all types in addition to addressing some of the specific needs of those who work digitally.

Audre you have mentioned Matricism before. Can you explain it?

Matricism is the brainchild of the brilliant fine art portrait painter, Christian Seidler. It is what the Pointillist dreamed of and is as close to a scientific painting technique as ever been achieved. Matricism defines a complex and new way to fuse elements of design: It is a new way to make color decisions within a composition. It represents a new language of expression and is a distinctly unique style of painting.  Matricism opens the door to the binary world and has lead to the development of the first robotic painting tool in the history of art. (For more information, visit matricism.com)

In addition to working with the new artistic concepts of Matricism, I also work with Christian on his Interactive Educational Program for the Arts, currently under joint development with the Jeffersonian Institute. The purpose of iEPA is to enable students, teachers, and community-based organizations seeking guidance and education about the professional world of art and the art industry to gain access to this information through interactive and inexpensive channels such as the internet and web-based technology.    Continued....   top