An approach to abstract expressionism in digital form.

Expressionism is a well-known modenist movement. As a painting style it focuses on representing raw, emotional, and subjective experiences rather than objective reality.

Abstract Expressionism shifted towards non-representational, totally abstract artworks that prioritize the expression of the emotions, feelings, and inner thoughts.

Digital Abstract Expressionism combines abstraction with technology to communicate these concepts using digital medium.

When creating in style of digital expressionism, I usually use heavy photo manipulation and image editing techniques to make original images unrecognizable. Artworks and pictures are turned into abstract landscapes, colorful explosions, canvases filled with shapes and colors.

This approach is experimental and the artwork is often produced by chance with both random and deliberate choice of effects and edits.

Most of the time the results are abstract, but every now and then, more recognizable shapes and scenes appear.

My first work in this style was “10 Median 1” and it was made from scratch by mixing colors and gradients, then blurring and smoothing them out. After No.10, I continued experimenting with various ways of creating these artworks, constantly trying something new.

Derived

Still, most of those artworks were made using similar techniques and effects, until one day I accidentally created something totally different. When editing some pictures by applying heavy amount of different effects, I noticed an interesting change in a particular part of the picture. When zoomed-in, it revealed an entirely different image that was basically a complete work of art in itself. I tried doing similar manipulation to other images and they produced even more interesting results.

I started naming artworks created using this technique with the word “Derived“, as these artworks are derived from small segments of their original sources by a variety of permutations and transformations – a sort of digital editing alchemy that produces results that have nothing in common with the original.

I started exploring and discovering more and more image worlds created by this technique. “Derived” series now includes a lot of works, and of course, naming all of them in the same way would not be ideal. So I switched to a much more creative way of naming them and started using more poetic titles.

Chaos and memory

Artworks in this style often have many chaotic color bursts and dynamic movements.

Many of these chaotic artworks explore the concepts of recollections, nostalgia and loss of memory. Objects, people, scenes and events are forgotten, covered in fog and seem unreachable to the hazy mind.

Non-chaotic digital expressionist artworks also explore these themes, such as “274 Sun In The Field” with its vibrant but unclear presentation of a natural scenery. It shows how a scene from the past is being recalled, resembling what one would see through eyes trying to adapt to the blinding light.

Memory-related concepts are fascinating and important to me. A majority of my artworks are related to the idea of memory and its fading, regardless of art style.

If you find this style interesting and want to buy a piece – contact me