New Work: Deconstructed Head in Pink, Red, and Blue
 

Detail of Deconstructed Head in Pink, Red, and Blue, Artist: Andrew Binder, 2023

Detail of Deconstructed Head in Pink, Red, and Blue, Artist: Andrew Binder, 2023

Detail of Deconstructed Head in Pink, Red, and Blue, Artist: Andrew Binder, 2023

 
 

Deconstructed Head in Pink, Red, and Blue began with the intention of being a quick study, but grew into a struggle, a learning experience, and a much more complicated piece. There was a point where I was very frustrated with it and wanted to abandon it. Then I got sick for a about a week or so. I returned to it afterward and saw what I had done in a more favorable light. I saw a new path forward for the piece. Something very different than what was originally intended. When I was finally completing it, while listening to a dark ambient mix, the sky outside was an apocalyptic orange hue, as smoke from the Canadian forest fires blanketed New York. In the end being forced to "step away" from the image for a while allowed me to come back and see it with new eyes. It wound up being the best thing for this particular piece.

 
 
Art Process, Artwork DetailAndrew Binder
New Work: Portrait Study in Blue 3.03.23
 

Detail of Portrait Study in Blue 3.03.23, Artist: Andrew Binder, 2023

 
 

This study features a monochromatic figure, painted in blue tones, expressionless, with features that seem to shift and dissolve. For the last couple of years or so, I've been doing a lot of "studies" where I've been experimenting with different methods of combining digital painting with traditional elements within my artistic process. Lately I've been hitting upon a workflow and method that is allowing me to more accurately achieve what is in my head. There is something about this "fracturing" that (to me, at least) is evocative of so many different things.

 
 
Art Process, Artwork DetailAndrew Binder
New Work: Dissonant Harmony in Pink and Cyan
 

Detail of Dissonant Harmony in Pink and Cyan, Artist: Andrew Binder, 2023

 
 

The figure dissolves, or perhaps takes shape, in a distorted cacophony of pink, brown and light magenta hues, against a cyan void. Created with a combination of painted acrylic layers and coffee drips on paper, which were scanned and combined with many digital painted layers at low opacities, slowly building up the form. Multiple variations of "expressive" layers of abstracted elements were interlaced with the figure, some building off of, and distorting the original acrylic layers. These variations were combined, added, and subtracted, eventually creating a final composition.

 
 
Art Process, Artwork DetailAndrew Binder