Article about my art in IEE Computer Graphics Magazine

The July/August issue of IEE Compute Graphics magazine features a 2-page article about my work, and uses a detail of  one of my digital paintings (Rorshach Experiment 1) on the cover. Below are jpegs of the cover and first few pages including the article, or you can read the pdf here.

The author is award-winning freelance journalist, author, and poet, Gary Singh, and he did me justice in the article. Here’s the intro paragraph:

Eric Wayne implements a technique he calls “digital impasto” in order to replicate traditional painting on a computer. In the world of analog painting, impasto refers to a style where thick brush strokes are prevalent, often due to the artist physically mixing the paints on the canvas, which adds a more 3D appeal and enables more opportunities for light to affect or reflect from the overall painting. Think Van Gogh or Vermeer.

The focus of the article is on my digital impasto technique, which is an unintended connection between a lot of my pieces, and sets my work apart from other artists who work digitally. More than the digital impasto itself is the link it represents with past, classic, fine art painting. I work in the same general tradition, but use modern technology, imagery appropriate to our age, and have a contemporary sensibility.

I was especially pleased that Gary didn’t sanitize my outrageous content, which some may find objectionably jarring. The reason the cover is a detail, rather than a full image, is that the magazine consistently uses abstractions on the cover, and it’s also portrait format. See the full image below.The magazine editors balked at using my “The Agony and the Extraterrestrial” because the content was a tad overwhelming, and may have risked more emphasis on the content alone rather than the technique. The magazine is, after all, focused on graphics applications, so I can’t blame them.

Given their disinclination to include “The Agony” I was relieved that they accepted, “Awakening Upon Death of the Bride of the Creature”, which is nearly as sensational.

I was surprised to read an accurate account of what this piece was about:

The full title refers to two films: The Bride of Frankenstein and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. A shot in the chest kills the creature, and she then spiritually emerges in the timeless void, all with digital impasto techniques implemented in Photoshop.

The expression on her face is one of extreme awe,” Wayne explains. “And the still water in her mouth suggests the complete stillness of the mind accompanying the awe. In short, she’s having an after-death experience.

OK, yeah, he’s quoting me, but he didn’t have to include all that information. The only thing that’s slightly off is the part about my goal beingto “to simply make new and original ideas

for the collective imagination”. It should be images, rather than ideas. I don’t know if he means visual ideas, misquoted me, or if I made a typo myself, but my aim is to create such images as might stick in your imagination and become a part of your mental library of imagery.

Here’s the link for the full article again: Infinite Flexibility with Layers.

~ Ends

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If you’d like to support my art and art criticism, I’ve set up a Patreon account which allows people to give $1 a month if I produce new work. Mostly nobody gets any support at all – no Patrons! – but if you don’t at least try you definitely won’t have any.