Under the persona LEVL9, I create abstract digital work related to, yet distinct from, my ‘fine art,’ which is series of drawings, prints and paintings created over many years.
During 2020, I noticed my increasingly complex digital compositions had strong recurring themes—"elemental forces colliding in pan-dimensional space,” as one collector described it. Baroque elements merge with futuristic ones in this body of work. Sequences of abstract images are created through a personal experimental process, mixing countless apps, filters and programs. I use my own photo-graphs and drawings as initial source material.
My art has always been dark. I embrace the indeterminate dark space, inventing visually opulent forms interacting within it. The resultant images lure the viewer into an interior landscape, through luxury and curiosity. Escapism is inherently decadent, so this is decadent art.
As a painter, I consider this deep dive into digital techniques a departure, but I have deliberately sustained a strong kinship in composition and palette between my ‘glitch’ art and my ‘fine’ art.
LEVL9 is pleased to be a listed artist in the international Techspressionism directory.
I have a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, and have subsequently been self-employed as an artist and designer in diverse media for my entire career, living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In addition to creating my own art, I was the owner/curator of experimental arts collective City of Mud, from 2015 to 2020. We restored an old building and transformed it into an event/exhibition space that featured cutting-edge art shows and many other public events. This was planned as a five-year project and we successfully met our goals, winning awards and being featured in many publications for our innovative programming.
I began showing my manipulated or ‘glitch’ imagery at City of Mud’s UnderSee show in 2016, expanded my repertoire at theZONE/visionary art show in 2018, adopted the LEVL9 persona for digital media, and created a 90-minute original movie GlitchWaves which premiered in 2019 with live electronic composers.
I was invited to create an original movie for CURRENTS New Media, the Southwest’s foremost digital/electronic arts festival, in 2021. The abstract film, Digital Zoetrope, was created with producer Julie DeFeo and percussionist Jamie Chase, and can be viewed on my Vimeo channel.