Artist's Statement

Pulsating. Rhythmic lines are intertwining, commingling, and synthesizing. Circular waves crash in patterns, flowing, rolling, and gesturing. Hard lines cut one another into pieces, contrasting, forcing, and disfiguring. Lines that mimic the graph of a heart rate coexist with the rolling curves of sound waves. Layers of complexity build, and the atmosphere thickens as objects darken through saturation.

I am an artist, and this is the language I try to use when creating art. Music as dramatic as the melody of an anthem, as sensuous as a succession of harmonized chords on the strings of a violin, influences my art. I translate from auditory to visual. I am listening for visual cues, and I am looking for emotional content. The transfer of emotion remains the ultimate aspiration. As the music swells, I race more vigorously to conceptualize the sounds. I look to translate my feelings of a string of notes and chords into a visually stimulating string of colors and shapes. I view the transfer of emotion as critical for both artist and viewer.

Trance and Progressive music influences my work. I feel drawn to technology as my medium, and as my inspiration. I accomplish graphic design through Adobe Illustrator, photography through digital cameras and Adobe Photoshop, and film editing through Final Cut Pro Studio. Pixels and bits are my paints. I observe the color wheel through the additive color spectrum, while I practice subtractive color theory.

Pounding at 140 beats-per-minute, the bass of Trance and Progressive music causes my heart rate to accelerate. The melody contrasts; it helps to slow my thoughts, and eventually a moving thought becomes a single frozen image. I am mindful of that moment. I begin to transfer image from mind to paper.

From a buildup of layers to a breakdown of reason, I always follow a semi-linear format. Technology can be maddening, because there are so many opportunities, and so many applications to keep track of. Is there room for emotion in this crazed aesthetic electric reality? Is there room for a question, or are their only answers to be found in cyber-space? I look to transfer these questions from the canvas of the artwork to the eye and mind of the viewer.

I always make sure my artwork asks a question. I do not want answers. In a society where answers are expected, there will be contradictions. Where there is conflict, there is art.

"Ambience," Nicholas Leitner, 2009