A New Emphasis on Patterns and Symbols
Legacy Code marks a new creative direction. It reflects a deeper understanding of the symbolic nature of my art, how images arrive in the process, and my motivations for creating in the first place.
This piece emerged on the heels of seven transitional drawings I created through the winter and early spring – a series where my thinking and creative approach shifted in several key areas.
In many ways, Legacy Code feels like the first meaningful step into the art I've always wanted to make, but until recently, I didn't know and trust myself enough to make.
The Creative Process for Legacy Code
Last winter, I experienced a personal shift that altered my sense of identity. This shift in me immediately began a ripple effect in my art, but it wasn't until Legacy Code that the ideas I'd been exploring coalesced into something distinct from my past work.
I'd specifically gained greater clarity about how images arrive in my work: I settle into a relaxed state that lets my unconscious mind surface shapes and symbols reflecting my emotional states, beliefs, and current life challenges. The image usually appears almost fully formed, and I already sense what it reflects in my real life. That awareness helps me pull each symbol through the fog of this waking dream state, channeling it into something more legible as I draw.
For Legacy Code, I was still carrying the thoughts, feelings, and new understanding from my transformative winter, and they heavily informed the imagery.
This piece was inspired by the sense of living a simulation of life – one where I wasn't the agent of my own actions – set against a broader conflict of natural human states against forces we don't control, and the inter-generational sacrifices that play out within us despite our best intentions.
A Shift in Space and Form
Creatively, I was open to visual influences in a way I hadn't been before – I suddenly felt drawn to the symbolic storytelling of Mesoamerican murals, the mesmerizing flow of lines in circuit boards, and the beautiful openness of the negative space in Aubrey Beardsley drawings.
These no longer felt unrelated to the art I wanted to make – they were exciting elements to learn from and incorporate into the structure of my own creations.
I fully let go of the perspective drawing and three-dimensional space I embraced a year ago, allowing space to flatten, compress, and hold forms in new ways.
This new direction feels like the conclusion of a long arc in my work, from the drawings I made in my teens and 20s – claustrophobic images where forms fight for two-dimensional space in a dense interplay of images – to fully realized three-dimensional worlds. Now, the approach is shifting to an integrated style where content doesn't need literal definition, and recognizable forms exist alongside abstract shapes and patterns.
I'm currently exploring a method to transfer the digital drawing for Legacy Code onto wood panel and complete the piece in color with acrylic paint and India ink. I made a smaller venture into painting a year ago, and that early effort helped clarify a better path into analog media that protects the aspects of my art I value most.
I'm motivated to find a way to maintain the flexibility of my digital drawing process while producing a physical art piece for display, and I have a method lined up that I believe will take me there. I'll share the results of these efforts once they're ready.
I post process videos, sketches, and behind-the-scenes work as new art takes shape. If you'd like to see the next stages of this world as it's built, you can find me here:
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