Andrew is an artist based in The USA his work is somewhat mathematical. Andrew is an engineer by trade discovering a unique way of producing art by using a little known feature of an iPhone. Andrew explains below;
"Here is the story behind these sets. Each finished picture is created from three underlying images. The first two form the base image, and the third is the cover. Each cover is different, and by putting it on, it changes the feel of the finished image. For the eye to see and the mind to comprehend the pictures and shape in the two base images, you need to look through at least 8 finished pictures, because the only change is the cover you can then discover the underlying pattern that is consistent across images. -- I am a mechanical engineer by training and have worked my way up the corporate ladder basically based on analytical skills, which come down to pattern recognition."
So far Andrew has 9 sets of work on the Blockchain Art Exchange you can view them all here https://opensea.io/assets/blockchainartexchange-v2?query=abranches
We catch up with Andrew to talk about his process in the interview below;
What or who is your main artistic influence?
I have always been a fan of comic books, so the interplay with a story, drawings, colors, and dialogue has shaped how I think of art. Specific comic book artists from whom I have drawn inspiration are – Steve Ditko and Frank Miller.
I am also an engineer, and Leonardo da Vinci is a historical personality that I would love to have apprenticed with
What do you think makes art good?
Art in my mind needs to reflect and ethos; this can be the time, the place, the event in a person, or communities' life. It could be a commentary on society at the time — an expression of a person's emotions. In the end, art for me is something that provides some insight into how someone else thinks, and in a way that appeals to a broad audience because it has a way of appealing to them.
Why do you make the kind of art you do?
I have had a long-standing fascination with photography and as a result, have a collection of pictures that I have taken going back over 25 years. The art that I produce is superimposition of imagery, modified by filters, sized and placement. What I do is take two images that represent something. It could be a situation, an adjective, a person. I merge these two images and then mask the base images with different overlays. Because the underlying merged image is the same, it can be discovered with the careful examination if someone sees at least eight images in the set. In some sets, it is easy to see the underlying image because I have intentionally not hidden it; other times the underlying images are very hard to detect. The name of the set indicates the ethos of the underlying image. I care about the visual appeal of the colors and so modify these through filters.
Why crypto art?
I like to collect, and collecting art has the challenge of requiring a place to display; I love digital art (as evidenced by my love for photography). Crypto art can ensure that each piece is unique and cannot be forged. It also allows clear ownership transfer. However the one feature of crypto art that appeals to me is the fact that the artist can get paid when the artwork is resold, and this feature is embedded in the contract at creation. We are still in the early stages of learning how to do this. I feel this will become the norm for all creative work and am very excited to see it happen. In my book, the creator should get rewarded the most for the act of creation.
Could you tell us a little about your process
I have described the process above. I use photographs, and I also use software extensively. I mainly work on my iPad and iPhone.
Anything else you would like to add?
I am an engineer by training and have worked in a large corporate organization for most of my working career. I am not an artist by training but rather an artist by desire and motivation. I am self-taught, learning what I can by trial and error, reading books and looking up training videos — an interesting factoid. Most of my artwork is done at around 4:30 in the morning when I wake up, and house is asleep, and refinements are done when I am in corporate meetings where the topic has gone off course, and I am bored out of my mind. This is my Gilbertian way of showing I am busy with something by playing with images on my iPad.
