> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
My name is Jakub: I was born in Krosno, in Poland, 27 years ago. I live in Wrocanka - a quiet little place near Krosno. I have always been someone who likes to learn - at school I was fascinated with the world of science, but later my interest turned to humanities. I studied English linguistics and Polish philology - that is why I would say that I'm still interested in how the world functions, but now I am more curious of how we perceive it: what use we make from our memory, knowledge and emotions.

Therefore words & arts are the main areas where my curiosity wanders these days, and what I like to do in my free time revolves around the massive amounts of music I listen to, admiring nature, painting, collage, calligraphy & typography, book art, and graphic design among other things. I am a mixture of a scientist and a self-taught artist - a most hopeless kind who is never bored, but tends to bore others when asked to speak, but I hope I won't get too... abstract, although the subject of this interview feature is encouraging me to do so.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I have always loved drawing and painting, especially realistic landscapes: these were my favourite subjects for a long time. It was only later - in my high school years - did I turn towards more surreal aesthetic, as I used to paint a lot of unreal scenes from my dreams. Naturally, quite early I fell in love with the paintings of Dalí and Magritte. I was fascinanted by the perception of a scene, and the feeling it evoked. At that same time I began my attempts with calligraphy, and - as if separately from it all - I used to indulge in 'making a mess' with oil paint on paper. I say separately because for some unknown reason I did not treat it as proper creating nor as artistic experimentation. It was just a play with texture, form and colour; a way to quench a desire, which I did not bothere to name nor identify in those days.

Then, at some point, these separate practices started to collide, and - giving more and more thought to the issues of perception and expression - I began to analyse what I was doing in order to make more focused use of imagination and the emotional weather of my mind, and only then I realised it is not merely a hobby, but a kind of transmission, self-discovery, or maybe even something more: it was sometime in 2005 when I discerned in my perception something that can be called 'artistic thinking'. With as little formal knowledge about Surrealism and Abstraction as I had, I still considered them the main ingredients of my art work and style. In December 2005, I joined deviantART.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
If possible, I would show such a person some works of both genres and start to discuss about how much reality is present in both of them, what part of reality it is, and what is this 'something-else' that takes its place. I hope it would become apparent then that Surrealism makes use of a realistic vision yet it invites a meaningful, mind-boggling, unreal element - an imaginary object, an unusual juxtaposition, or a perspective unattainable in reality; while Abstraction makes a more direct connection to emotions - those named, those unnamed, and also those we had no idea of - through non-figurative means like arrangement, shape, colour, lighting, texture, and other means that capture our subconscious.

Surrealism and Abstraction make it possible to grasp and convey a feeling or an idea which we cannot express in any explicit way - and these are not only the feelings and ideas we get when we close our eyes, these are also those emotions and vibrations we get from the observation of the world. Since what we consciously observe and process is just a part of what we really perceive, Surrealism and Abstraction seem to me to be much about finding the way to speak of what is hidden there in the real world, and to wake up what is slumbering in the soul of the beholder.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
Curiosity, the addictive experience of mystery, and the pleasure of discovery. These styles go so well with my attitude to life, and I feel the world is still mysterious. In my works I often deal with different concepts and emotions through the use of such themes as text, words and script - which represent certain level of abstraction on their own - and the genres in question were always there first at hand when attempting to invite the realm of words into the world of image.

The same is the case with so-called asemic writing, which is sometimes referred to as abstract writing, and which is a good example of how Abstraction serves my ideas. As a kind of writing without linguistic meaning, it allows to create the impression of writing, text and language, without actually using any existing language nor any established script, yet retaining the impression of a text through the tools used, shape, and form. It allows me to hint at the tempting possibility of some hidden code being there to decipher.

There is also a desire to engage in communication with something outside the consciousness, to turn something that seems accidental into intentional and meaningful, and to derive a valuable message for oneself from something seemingly nonsensical. I find it present and alive especially in the play with words, and also in the art of collage and assemblage - which sometimes has for me an impression of a divining art like throwing dices, here, by throwing various pictures onto paper to create or rediscover the message - just let us recall the Dada practices, out of which Surrealism emerged.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
On a universal level it is an invitation to reach beyond superficiality, to be a little more open and humble in face of the world around us - nature, people, creation. I would like my works to convey the sense of a mysterious kind of beauty - something which, hopefully, may teach us respect and the same time may give us a lot of pleasure and excitement from the experience of personal discovery. I hope that it is a kind of attitude that helps to rule out cynicism and pessimism.

Various themes and motifs I employ may then seem just the means to achieve the universal aim, but it is perfectly fine for me when a viewer decides to concentrate solely on them. As long as we all have our own preferences with regard to our favourite themes and motifs, the figurative also represents the sphere of our personal mythologies, metaphors and symbols, and this level can be no less exciting to explore and decrypt - but in the case of my work, it is not that crucial for a viewer to do so, although there is some kind of symbolic structure gradually taking shape. However, at the moment I would be happy if this level had just enough evocative power to allow viewers to reach and capture a feeling or an idea they would regard new and valuable for themselves.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
A pile of paper scraps, glue, oils, ink, turpentine. There is a lot of torture given to paper. I rarely use brushes, because I am more interested in the texture and the effect of a monotype, and I usually put paint on paper with paper. For the calligraphic motifs I usually use homemade cola-pens. With regard to traditional techniques and handwriting, in fact every graphic tool that leaves a mark can be good, as at certain stages of work the unexpected result is what I need most, while at other stages the precision requires the use of calligraphic nibs and brushes.

With the kind of photography I take, a standard digital camera is fair enough for my needs. I also love to experiment with glass, mirrors, metal foils, different surfaces, translucent materials, and light - the problem begins when I have to categorise the work according to the medium used, because often the results I get this way become photographed and end up in Photoshop (in the past it was Corel's Photo-Paint) as a material for photo-manipulations. Recently I have also started to play with glitch-art and data-bending, which involves the use of sound-wave editing applications to corrupt the image files.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
As much as the idea of perfection (especially the technical aspect) changes from age to age, it should not be overestimated. If we speak of 'a quality' of a piece, what comes to my mind is a sum of many parts that a piece may have, and then it all gets too general. When approaching a piece, I do it with the idea of focusing on a particular aspect, and mostly it is the 'essence' - the evocative capacity of a piece. Of course the technical quality can make the message shine through a lot brighter, but sometimes, when immaculate technical quality is everything a piece has to offer, this is too little. It is different between photography and traditional graphic techniques, in case of the latter the notion of perfectness is even more fuzzy, yet being experienced in using a particular medium usually contributes to the overall quality. Still, it is the essence I look for in a piece of art.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Coming across the works of calligrapher Brody Neuenschwander was a turning point for me. It was almost 15 years ago, but I remember I was tremendously overwhelmed by his calligraphic mastery and the works in which he explored the nature and capacity of letters, words and texts. It was enormously eye-opening experience to realise what can be done with a text as a visual element. A few years ago, one of the deviant artists introduced to me the surreal art of Remedios Varo, which I immediately fell in love with. Apart from an original style and vision, there is inspiration with mediaeval art visible in her paintings, and I have always had an affinity to mediaeval aesthetics too. Among my favourite artists, there is also American painter and illustrator Maxfield Parrish, with his arcadian and fairytale-like scenceries and incredible vibrance of colours and detail - while not being surreal, acquired a distinctive dream-like look thanks to carefully arranged compositions and the original techniques he developped in his work. For some time I have also followed and admired the work of French Surrealist painter Anne Bachelier for a rare kind of dreaminess and eerie sublimity.

Of course, there are also many deviantART artists whose work I count among my absolute favourites, but if I began to list names, I would have to end up with bringing most of my deviantWatch list here. I should also mention several big names from history, as well as some contemporary book-artists and designers and many, many others...


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

I am not very active in groups, but I can recommend #7panels for anyone interested in surreal and abstract qualities that are there in traditional collage. It is a collaborative group founded by *KatDiestel. In each round, seven artists switch between each other seven panels to subsequently - in seven stages - work on every single of them to complete the seven pieces. It is a nice process, an interesting lesson and a lot of fun.

> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
I was born on January 30th, 1978 and I currently live and work as an IT analyst in Athens, Greece. Most of my free time is dedicated to photography, either by watching the work of famous or less established photographers, or by trying to embody my influences in the pictures that I create myself.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
During the first 30 years of my life many activities claimed my free time: photography wasn't one of them. During the summer of 2008 I acquired my first decent camera (a Canon G7) and I started experimenting with all its advanced settings and manual controls. I soon realised that a camera is the perfect medium for me to express my feelings, while staying creative at the same time. As soon as I believed that I had learned the basic rules of photography I started breaking them. I also realised that mood was an essential part of my photography and that brought me to fine-art surrealism, which is a form that can usually raise strong emotions.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
I believe that both abstraction and surrealism have one thing in common; they allow the viewers to use their imagination in order to interpret an image. And that, inevitably, leads to multiple and different interpretations. More than that, for me, surrealism is highly connected to the oneiric world, as opposed to the real world.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
Whatever lies around me is a potential source of inspiration. Sometimes it's pure beauty that naturally attracts my eye. Other times it's the ordinary; all those things that we pass by every day without paying attention to. And many times it's the light itself; the way it reflects on a surface or the way it fades something into the shadows. I tend to visit all kinds of places during my photographic explorations: from the very centre of my city to an abandoned factory, a quiet lake, or an old forest. Also, different places provide different kinds of inspiration and it usually takes ten or twenty minutes before any equipment is taken out of my camera bag. During that time I just walk around, seeing, hearing, smelling, trying to figure out what makes the place unique, sensing the emotions it creates and taking mental snapshots of all the interesting spots.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
Most photographers try to imprint a scene as they see it through the viewfinder. I, on the other hand, prefer to produce fuzzy versions of reality, making a scene look not as something I see but rather as something I remember, like a memory or a dream. I wouldn't say there is a clear message or a solid idea behind my artworks. Let's just say that I'm trying to explore how the images that we create with our mind could be depicted through a series of pixels on a screen or marks on paper.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I use a Canon EOS 50D, usually with the Lensbaby composer or with the f/1.8 50mm lens, which are both great (and fairly cheap) tools to create selective focus (a technique I use fairly often). During post-processing, I usually make most of the common adjustments on Lightroom and use Photoshop for any heavy editing, such as texture application and/or use of filters.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
Does the real value of a gift depend on its wrapping? No it doesn't, for me at least. That's not to say that I underestimate technical perfection. I just believe that technical perfection can come though study, practice and experience, whereas the vision: that is something that lies at the core of our existence and we need to dig inside us in order to distill it.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
There are many photographers of different styles that have influenced me over time, in one way or another. However, I'd like to refer in particular to Susan Burnstine, a fine-art photographer who has been my biggest influence until today. Burnstine is a master at oneiric visions, which she creates entirely on camera, utilising a number of cameras and lenses she has made herself.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
My name is Coco Kingsolver, and I'm a photographer/artist. I have a lot of interests such as music, art, poetry, animals, traveling, and caffeine. Lots of caffeine.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
This is a complicated question for me as art comes as naturally to me as breathing. I didn't wake up one morning and say "Today, I'm going to see the world as an artist sees the world." I wish it would have been that simple. To more closely answer the question, taking art more seriously, as something that has defined me as a person, has only happened within the last 10 years. Even though I knew I was 'different' from a very young age, I spent the majority of my life ignoring it and locking it away, much like one locks away an embarrassing relative. I've always believed that this distorted view of the world, this abstract-ism and surrealistic view of life and its contents is something more congenital, like a birth defect or beauty mark. I haven't decided which one yet.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
I think abstract art is introducing a subject that is barely familiar to the viewer and working with it until it's completely unrecognisable, leaving the last clue of this mystery in the title. In surrealism, the subject of the piece is quite obvious, but has more of a dream-like or hallucinogenic feel.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I think the more abstract I feel as a person, the more distorted and dark my work is: but isn't that true of a lot of artists?


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
I'm not certain if I'm trying to tell the world anything explicit with my art. Each piece carries it's own message: it's up the viewer to decide what that message is, and what that piece means, if anything, to them.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
Nikon hardware, Lightroom, and a fractured soul.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
It could really go either way. I've seen a lot of work where the subject matter is undesirable but the light, composition, and so-on is perfect and vice versa. I generally do not like those works as much. I really believe there has to be a balance here.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
There are too many to list here but let's start with Salvador Dali, et al. I think Salvador really epitomises what surrealism/abstract is, for me. As far as photographers go, I've found many favourites here on deviantART. However, I admire and appreciate all artists that are willing to take chances and not feel restraint in their art. For me, art is about setting your soul free and there should be no chains.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
Well I have to say, personally, I rarely submit my work to groups for a number of reasons but some of the best groups I've found here are #Abstract-and-Surreal, #WhoNeedsColour, and of course mine, #ExtremeBW!

> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
My name is Teresa Clark, and I was born in 1974 in Mexico City. I am a painter but I'm also interested in many things which usually interact, like cinema, nature, music, psychology, literature, etcetera. Since life is short, I've devoted myself to one activity, painting, that fulfils my needs and desires; yet I've done my best to allow other interests to feed it. Knowledge and feeling may come from the unexpected and one must be open to everything, if possible.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I was attracted to art since childhood, but I didn't grow up in an environment that encouraged it, except as a hobby. I was told that I should find a job to pay bills, so, long story short, I became a lawyer, and worked for years at that. However, during those years I felt an emptiness around the whole law-firm environment and status until it all seemed pointless and I started to get sick all the time. It was a hard moment but I was still young and I could re-evaluate what I wanted in life. I started taking drawing lessons in 2000 and went on to different ateliers while working still as a lawyer, part-time. In 2005 I started showing my paintings, and selling some. Around the end of 2007, I finally stopped working as a lawyer and took the (scary) leap to living from painting, which has been good, with its ups and downs and having to learn different jobs related to painting, such as coloring digitally for animation or producing illustration work.

The first years, as most students, I had no idea about what direction to take with my painting, but around 2003 I had the opportunity of scubadiving in Cozumel and was amazed by the underwater world. My first works were all about underwater seascapes, in a somewhat impressionistic style because I wanted to avoid an illustrative, 'Seaworld' style. I slowly evolved to abstract expressionism, to a point where my paintings didn't actually show anything of the sea, apart from the titles. I loved abstraction but wasn't ready to face creation from zero, in a pure abstract way: I always needed an image from a place, even if imaginary, to start from. Eventually, however, I did manage to do some lyrical abstracts, like To Heal the Wound I and II, or my Corrosive Series.

On the other hand, I've also made small approaches to Surrealism, which begun with my collage collaborations with Liz Cohn and her project Playing with a Full Deck who I met here on deviantART. Those, and my other smaller pieces like Runaway, Transportado or The Black Thread, have been ludic and somewhat relaxing detours in my work, opening the surreal window to me.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
In an attempt to keep it simple, I would say that Abstract art is a non-representative way of creation (meaning that no figure appears in it). It may be created by synthesizing a figure until it is beyond recognition, or in a purest form, it may be created just considering composition, colour and texture. There are some subcategories like lyric abstraction (inspired mostly by feeling and expression), or geometric abstraction (mostly synthetic compositions involving geometric figures, straight lines, etcetera.). I particularly adhere to the lyrical category, since many of my paintings involve either expression and catharsis of my inner feelings, or evocation of fantastic 'places'.  Surrealism, on the other hand, is generated by spontaneous, apparently unintentional relationship between figures and often skipping any logic at all. It also intends to bring to the viewer the world of the unconscious, the dream-state, and usually their contradictions with reality and order.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
In Abstraction, no matter what my process is, the viewer has always the prerogative to see what the painting evokes for them, and I just love that. I have my own fulfillment in every piece, but there's still the others' experience over it: I believe I bring something to others' lives. Surrealism is a different path to the same direction; it is fun to bring out the viewers' memories, dreams or unconscious relationships between those figures and their own experiences. Or maybe these pieces just may cause a reaction of enjoyment, of fun generated by the impossible. I sure have a lot of fun when I work in those pieces. Some people react better to abstraction, some to surrealism; I think there is also a matter of personal taste and understanding in everyone that must be respected. Not all art is for everyone.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
Both abstraction and surrealism are attractive to me because I want to bring out the viewers' (and my own) memories, experiences, dreams. I want to move anybody that comes close to my paintings, so they can take a look into their souls. Sometimes the view can be dark, even, but as long as I move something I feel I am bringing out their humanity; something which is occasionally exhausted by reality and its requirements (money, work, family, health, and so on).


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
For years I've painted with oils over acrylics on canvas, taking advantage of the quick drying properties of acrylics but finishing them up with oils because I really like the vibrant quality of oils (never try the inverse way though - acrylic over oils - because it will fall apart). However, a couple of years ago I started producing smaller pieces on paper and using other combinations such as acrylics with pastels. I try to work on the finest watercolor paper I can find, from Arches to Fabriano, and I usually choose heavier and textured paper so it can hold through the whole process. Also, I have sometimes included tiny collages into my works.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
I think both are important. A technical virtuosity is always appreciated but may lack feeling or importance for the viewer and thus may be easily forgotten. One must have something to say! But without technical knowledge, the message may be lost or only partly achieved. Actually, I think one never achieves 100% the message, that's why we keep trying.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
That is a tough question. I really like Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, along with Turner, Whistler, Odilon Redon, Klimt, Nolde, the romantics and also the expressionists. I admire Kandinsky and really respect Cy Twombly and Lucian Freud. But these are just a few names, I enjoy the work of many more.  I must add that I am also inspired by the art-related work created in movies, not only in classic animation but production design in feature films like Coppola's or classic black and white films. One can learn a lot about composition and the language of colour from watching movies.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
I have been a member of the 4bstr4ct4rt group from my early days on deviantART and I've found they have a good criteria of selection -I've found many great artists to watch there. I haven't been involved enough with Surrealism, so I haven't been in touch with any groups regarding it.

> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hi. My name is Steve Jones, and I live on a small island off the south coast of England. I love sport, music, and sunshine. I also like the feeling you get when life throws you a sense of realisation and creative emotion. I enjoy living by the sea.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I stumbled upon collage art a few years ago, having previously had no practical art experience, other than the occasional bout of creative writing through prose and poetry. I don't really consider my work to be in any artistic bracket, other than being a type of collage that other people are free to categorise.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
I would not be able to describe the differences between, or the concepts of, Surrealism and Abstractionism other than they have a different 'label' but they are both valid examples of fine art styles drawn from creative states.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I am fuelled by emotion and the every-day workings of Being. these are both my tools and my inspiration.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
I try to put across a sense of 'mood' and 'feeling' in my collages; there is never really any explicit message that I am trying to translate to an observer through my work, just the hint of a feeling or an emotion.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
Tools for me are the every-day interactions between people. I love the sense of community and I try to use that to fuel my creativity. It's a little bit like you are recycling what you see and find around you, and re-presenting it to your surroundings in a new form.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
The quality of any art is in its ability to impact upon the observer... there are no other factors that come into consideration, for me.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
I like Rene Magritte, mainly for the way he creates light in his works.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
I would recommend groups that best suit your own style: there are thousands to choose from; have a look, there is really a group for every style of art here on deviantART.

> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hi, I'm Jess! I'm twenty-three and I'm on deviantART mostly for fractal art. I also like to write and I am fascinated by linguistics: I read too many fantasy novels and web-comics. If you ever want to talk to me there's a good chance I'm lurking in Aposhack.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've been drawing since I could hold a marker. I actually remember the first time I head the word 'abstract', too: I was really young - definitely single digits - and painting with watercolours, when I got the idea to do just produce a design with no objects. When I showed it to my dad, he called it abstract.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
I would say that abstract art focuses on raw form and colour rather than on depicting objects and portraying realism. Even when there are some recognisable objects, they are usually obscured, altered or made delightfully weird in some way.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I really love the exploratory aspect. With fractals specifically, it seems like there's this huge possibility-space of things you could do that nobody has ever done before. Maybe the necessary software hasn't even been developed yet! It makes me feel like I'm wandering around on an as-yet uncharted part of the aesthetic map.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
Maximalism. I love bright colours - without getting psychedelic - and depicting lots of fine detail. Theoretically infinite detail, in fact; this is fractal art, after all. You could say I want my art to make people feel small in this world. Beyond that, the mood and inspiration varies a lot from piece to piece, although perceptive viewers might pick up some recurring themes.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
Primarily I make use of Ultra Fractal, Apophysis, and Chaotica, which are all designated fractal programs.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
The latter, but I also think that 'message' is too concrete a word. I once argued that if poetry were only about communicating, poets would be journalists instead, and I think the same sentiment applies to visual art. Sometimes the reason we make art is to express things we can't quite put in words. Another thing is that 'technical' might mean different things in different media. When I think of an overly-technical fractal, I think of one where the person has focused on the mathematical concept and advanced software features, but not given much thought to aesthetic things like composition or colour. So, I guess I would say that in addition to making the viewer think or feel something, a really high-quality work should be aesthetically interesting (not necessarily pleasing!) but that I don't really consider that to be a matter of technique.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Well, I'm not super-knowledgeable about either art history or the 'contemporary art scene' (whatever that is), so this answer will mostly be a bunch of fractal artists. That said, I really enjoy the paintings of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Caspar David Friedrich, and Claude Monet. `rougeux was the deviant who first inspired me to try fractal art, and his pieces remain some of my classic favourites. I also love the work of ~Beesknees67, ~IDeviant, ~s31415, and ~infinite-art. Fractal art is a fairly collaborative medium, especially on a social site like deviantART. I've had a lot of highly productive art sessions with *esintu, `Platinus, =ChaosFissure, and ~OutsideFate. They are all wonderful artists and hugely influential to me.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
Honestly, I don't use the groups feature all that much, and most of the ones I do know are fractal specific (and often software specific). However, #non-real is pretty great.

  


Thank-you `FarDareisMai.

Other Entries

> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
I'm a 37 year old New Zealander, born and raised in apartheid South Africa; not something I am particularly proud of. I work part-time as a real estate photographer, which I mostly enjoy, even though it is a purely technical exercise. In my spare time, I like to get creative behind the camera, just wandering around wherever I might be and opening my eyes to opportunities that present themselves. Apart from that, I like to be adventurous and enjoy hiking, camping and going on epic road trips!


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I studied biotechnology at university but had trouble keeping a job down for long, mainly because I didn't handle stress very well in that time of my life. I have a very analytical mind that gets overwhelmed and exhausted at times and this has largely been the catalyst for pursuing creativity and art, in an attempt to find some balance. It engages a different part of the brain and takes one away from thinking too much! I was pretty-much ridiculed for my artistic skill at school, which was not entirely unjustified. I just thought that art was one big waste of time and I couldn't identify with it on any level. We are all creative people, we all have it inside of us I believe, it just has to be unlocked and given voice to. For me, it was as simple as getting an instructional book out of the library that teaches its readers how to draw pencil sketches: I was 21 years old at the time. It opened up a door for me to see the world in a radically different way; in terms of shadows, lines and texture, rather than preconceived ideas brought on by conditioning, past experience and the human habit of attaching labels or names to objects. From there, I bought my first camera and I was immediately captivated by the fusion of science and art and so my love affair with photography was born. Abstract and surreal forms of expression came more naturally to me over the years as my eyes started seeing more beyond the veil of preconceived reality.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
Speaking from a photographic perspective, all photographs are by their very nature abstract. Even the human eye sees in abstract terms. We only sense a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, namely that of visible light, or in my case a fraction of visible light, as I am partially colour blind! If we could truly perceive all frequencies of wave energy entering our eyes, reality would be a totally different experience. Apart from that, the human brain filters out a lot of what we actually see as insignificant so we don't really take notice of the totality of what is around us in any case. Our lives are abstract lives, we only sense a tiny fraction of the whole and we only experience a tiny fraction of what we sense. Likewise, any photograph is a gross abstraction of reality, in the sense that it only reproduces a mere slice of ultimate reality, an infinitesimally small portion of the universe; if indeed there is such a thing as objective reality. Abstract photography just takes that a small step further, by capturing an even smaller slice, to the point where the image might no longer be recognisable as an object as such. In a way - and quite ironically, I might add - the term 'abstract' is just another label we attach to a genre of art, which is something the abstract artist is often trying to get away from, i.e. the notion of labels and names and boxes we like to use to categorise 'things' and experience.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
It just sort-of happens. I don't always know the reasons behind it, but I do seem to be drawn to it more and more at this time in my life. When I first started on my photographic journey, I focussed mostly upon landscape photography: the so-called chocolate box and calendar images - and there is nothing wrong with that, we need to be made aware of the beauty all around us. But it wasn't particularly satisfying in an artistic sense and it was incredibly hard work lugging a bunch of photographic equipment on my back for days on end on my hiking expeditions. By adopting a more abstract approach, one is able to make photographs absolutely everywhere, whether it be in your back yard or on the crest of a dune in the Namib Desert. There is beauty and intrigue in literally everything, in decay, neglect, despair and even death itself. All the images in my gallery to date were made over the course of the last 6 months; I have not uploaded any of my older work as yet and don't really feel compelled to do so. I have been going through quite a creative spurt, in part inspired by all the great work here on deviantART, and it has drawn me more into exploring abstraction and surrealism as a form of personal expression.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
The wonderful thing about abstract and surreal photography is that the viewer will add their own interpretation to the work, based on their past experience and neurobiological make-up. That holds true for other genres of photography as well but is especially true for abstraction and surrealism. No two people will perceive the work in the same way, so the work you created with your mind and vision is then interpreted in possibly a totally different way by the viewer and distilled into a feeling, emotion, thought or dream. It is almost as if the work is being created twice, once by the photographer and once again by the viewer. In this way, there is a meaningful interaction between the two parties, something I find valuable. So there is no real message I am trying to convey: the message is the one the observer arrives at.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I only started shooting digital in 2008: prior to that it was mostly 35mm transparency film. I now mainly use a Canon 5D Mk II, but still occasionally get out my 5D original as it has more of that film 'look' about it. My workhorse lens is the Canon 24-105mm f4 L IS but I have three other Canon lenses as well. Then there is my trusty but ageing Manfrotto tripod that will need replacing soon, as the sea water and sand has taken its toll. I shoot in RAW and process with Lightroom 4, mostly opting for subtle and gentle adjustments. I don't spend much time processing my images, I prefer to create with the camera as much as possible.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
It depends on how one defines quality. I think the message or idea should be the primary focus but the message can be diluted if poor technique was used. In other words, you are better able to convey your intention by using 'proper' technique. Sometimes one can stumble upon something remarkable by not being conscious of technique and that is great, so it is not a hard and fast rule, but I admire a well composed and executed photograph that resonates with me on an artistic level as well.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Among the masters of photography, I have great admiration for the likes of Minor White and Edward Weston whose abstracts or 'equivalents', as they were often referred to, helped push photography form a purely clinical documentation of reality to something more intangible, in essence using photography as a tool for creating art. The Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson had a big influence on me when I first started on my journey. His 1979 book Photography and the Art of Seeing which I first read in 2002, really helped me to break out of the box of conditioned visual perception and to really see in abstract terms for the first time. The more abstract, and perhaps less well known, works of New Zealand nature photographer Craig Potton served to inspire me to look past the obvious beauty of the country's landscapes to focus more on the intricate details and tighter compositions contained within. Here on deviantART I'm a big fan of the of, in alphabetical order: ^arctoa for his poetic and imaginative works; *ChristineKalliri for her soulful depth and intensity, `DpressedSoul for his expressive works, *Einsilbig for his simple yet strong abstracts, *eintoern for his prolific and perceiving eye, and ~Hengki24 for his epic nature abstracts. There are many more of course, so please don't feel offended if I have left you out; these are just off the top of my head!


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

  
  
  


Thank-you ~dynax700si.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
My name is Dimitris and I hail from Hellas. In my childhood memories and throughout my 38 years on this earth I've messed around with the arts: it was a natural instict, a way to express nearly everything. I focused on my greatest love, music: I was a DJ for many years and I compose my own music. Later, I finally found the time to deal with photography and to express my feelings through a camera, an overlay/texture (or many...) in any way I can, and with any means at hand. Other than these two interests, I must say I am a quiet guy: I had my share of the wild life through my time as a DJ but now I enjoy a good book, good music, a good television series or movie, a ride in the car, a walk in the woods or by the sea, and most of all my lady's embrace.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've always taken pictures but never with the 'eye' that I have now. I started messing around with effects and stuff like that a couple of years ago, but even as a teenager I was always drawn towards the surreal: I think that even though I do not quite like genre-labelling I know that Dave McKean, the illustrator of Paradise Lost's Shades Of God album and As I Die EP, and comic artist for DC's Vertigo sub-label and Neil Gaiman's books, was the one who first captured my attention.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
As I said above I am not fond of categorising our imagination, especially in the Abstract and Surreal forms but if I had to explain I would say that in Abstraction and Surrealism, art escapes beyond logic boundaries. Just that.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I rarely find any interest in an plain image, so with these forms, my imagination has no limit: I get inspired by the freedom that Abstraction and Surrealism provides. At some points the musical background when I am creating is the greatest inspiration of all.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
We are living in dark grey times: through unemployment, the downfall of economies, failing ecosystems, and the increasing difficulty of human relationships. I did not imagine that in my nearly 40's I  would be so pessimistic about my life. So with my images I am either trying to express these feelings, or attempting to keep the romantic in me alive.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I create with any means available. I have used images from cell phone cameras, my humble Cybershot, and now my Nikon D3000. I mainly use Photoshop CS6 for the effects. Overlays and Textures are vital for the atmospheres that I want to create, and at this point I should thank all of these wonderful people that share with us their lovely works and resources!


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
I am an amateur myself and I really admire an image when it is not accomplished due to technical perfection only. I do not like perfection, because I am not used to it.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Firstly, Gustav Klimt, the only person that makes me dream and even smile with use of colours! Secondly, Dave McKean. There is no why. I just adore his works.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?

Thank-you *Azenoire.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
I am a fifty-something photographer and graphic designer living in Southern California. I have been taking and making photographs since the days when it made your fingers smell (ah... fixer). At first I lamented the departure of film, but the digital medium certainly has its advantages. While I do some computer processing of most of my images, I try to limit it to things that I could have done in the darkroom. It is important to me that the pictures are not overly synthetic. Ultimately, I am most inspired by the phenomenon of nature that we call 'light', by its human offspring vision and perception, and by the amazing things that happen when the three come together. I also love a nice picture of a cute kitten now and then.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've been producing art since elementary school, but it wasn't until high school that I began to think of art as a possible profession. Not all of my work is abstract, but I guess the abstract images come from my years of doing commercial graphic design. The abstract photos are simply design in its purest form. Ones in which the design has to satisfy only one 'client', myself.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
For me, the critical aspect of abstract art is that the visual totality of the image, the visual presentation, must be the most important thing about the image; why the image exists. I say that in relation mostly to a lot of abstract photos, as opposed to the typical abstract painting or drawing. For instance, in many abstract photos you can tell it is part of a building or other architecture, or a closely cropped section of a flower or plant, or that it is peeling paint on a wall. And that's OK, as long as the composition, shapes, colors and textural elements in the image are more important to the success of the piece than the fact that its source is a man-made or natural object. In regard to my own images, some are more recognizable as paper than others are, but in the more abstract examples the 'paperiness' is not what the image is about, it only (hopefully) supports and enhances the overall composition.


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
My Paper Series of images runs the gamut from figurative, conceptual, still life, to pure abstracts. I guess I'm inspired to produce abstracts when I do not want to 'think' too much, but just want to create on the fly: to just take some interesting sheets of paper and see happens.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
With the abstracts, the 'idea' usually comes last. Usually about three-quarters of the way through creating a piece the colours and shapes will inspire a title, and that title will sort-of cement in my mind a final look and feel that I can work towards to finish the piece.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
Paper, scissors, x-acto knife, paper shredder. Light... and shadow.


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
I guess I'm much bigger on technique than message. I enjoy and appreciate many images that have no message at all, but I rarely admire images with poor technique.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Grant Wood, for his design and patterning n his landscape work; Takashi Murakami, for his... well, for everything; Tim Hawkinsoon, for his wildly creative stuff across a range of subject and media, but especially for the creepy stuff; and Jan Van Eyck, obviously he was a Master: what's not to like?


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
I don't have a particular recommendation. There are many, many groups out there, and I don't have any criteria to rate one over another.

:thumb332336101:




Thank-you *kparks.

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> Please introduce yourself, in your own words. What are your interests?
Hello, I'm Chris; only my mother calls me "Christian" and when she does I know I'm in trouble. I'm 53 years young and I live in the middle of the UK.  I love photography and music; far too much music, I may add.


> Where did you begin with artistic endeavours? How did you come across Abstraction or Surrealism?
I've always been interested in art from a very early age, mainly because my dad was an abstract painter. I'd be the only kid in the street with oil paint on his clothes while the other kids only had mud on theirs.


> How would you explain the concept of Abstraction or Surrealism to someone with no experience with the genre?
Good question. Well, Surrealism twists reality to convey the dreams of our subconscious mind, whereas abstraction expresses something that differs from reality but isn’t always representational of what it captures, because abstraction is emotion and energy. However, I fear it could also be said that abstract art can be seen as surrealistic as well, because the randomness might portray some subconscious ideas at the time of painting just to confuse you...


> What inspires you to use Abstraction or Surrealism in your work?
I see various shadows of abstraction where-ever I go. I never really thought about it before, but it moves me when I see a splatter of paint on a wall or different shades of plaster: it evokes feelings inside me and I want to show people that there’s nothing wrong with expressing feelings through abstraction.


> What do you want to express with your artwork? What is the idea you're trying to put across?
I want to express emotions: be they good or bad, light or dark, I want people to open their eyes and just see what's around them; what they miss when they don’t stop and look at their surroundings.


> What are your 'tools of the trade'? How do you create your art?
I have a wonderful Nikon D90 / 18-200mm F3.5-5.6G / 60Mm F2.8D Af Micro / 10.5mm F2.8G AF DX IF-ED Fisheye / 50mm F/1.8D.  I capture what I see, be it in close-up detail or in wide-angle. I use Photoshop CS5 to straighten up my images because I'm useless at holding the camera straight, and sometimes I adjust the contrasts when needed and, if shooting RAW or infrared, then I use it to fine-tune everything. A friend once said to me "why don’t you use Photoshop?", and I argued that it distorts what I capture - to which he laughed and said "Photoshop is your darkroom, so use it like you used to use the darkroom and bring your pictures to life once again!"


> Do you think the quality of a piece depends more upon technical perfection, or the message contained therein?
The message: what’s technically perfect doesn't always have emotions within it.


> Who are your favourite visual artists, and why?
Oh, this is such a hard question! Each and every one of the people I watch here on deviantART would come under that: I love their work, it's all so different and it all carries wonderful emotions and messages. The list would be a huge one if I were to name them one by one, so I hope they forgive me if I don't. Elsewhere, I love Don McCullin's work so much - he has such an affinity for the subjects he captures, be they the darkest of dark images you'll ever have seen, or the most wonderful imagery the world has to offer. I advise anyone to watch his DVD and not be moved by it.


> Which dA Groups would you recommend to someone looking to get involved with abstract and surreal art?
I was once in a group, but I don’t follow or have any involvement in any groups any more.

Thank-you *chriseastmids.

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