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VISUAL ALCHEMIST ENDO TALKS TO US ABOUT CREATING HIS DIGITAL VISUALS, HIS BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS AND COLLABORATION PLANS

You describe yourself as a visual alchemist, for those less familiar with the term can you explain what it is and why you consider yourself to be one?

I like the phrase 'Visual Alchemist' because I feel it accurately describes the process that I use to create my art.  Alchemy can be defined as "a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination".  My creative process involves using simple shapes and basic patterns and then transforming them in various ways to increase complexity and detail.  I have also recently been working with other artists and transforming their paintings into new moving works of art.  Basically taking an image of their work, digitizing it and animating it into a whole new composition.    


"Psyrus" - March 2015 - Digital

 

You work in a variety of mediums but are known for your trippy digital visuals, take us through the process of creating them?

I enjoy painting and drawing but digital motion graphics is definitely the medium that I work with the most.  When I'm creating something new, I usually begin by using generative effects that will generate something onto the screen.  This could be a pattern, a shape, or anything really.  From there I'll continue using all the tools that the software (Adobe After Effects) provides in different combinations until I see something I like.  Then I keep repeating the process over and over again until I feel like the art is finished.  It's very recursive in that I'll apply some modifications to a design and then cycle it back through another process over and over again.  What may have started as a simple set of hexagons ends up being a complex design.  I really enjoy using Adobe After Effects because it allows for non-destructive editing.  This means that effects and options can be easily switched on or off.  I can create different combinations of effects and transformations, play with all of the parameters, and then switch them on and off to explore all the different combinations until I like what I see on screen.  
Other times I like to blend digital art with nature photography in an attempt to visualize things that are beyond the human range of vision.  We see so little of what is really out there.  It's fun to try to make the invisible visible.  I have friends who are photographers and every once in a while I see a photo that catches my attention so I ask them if I can add to it.  It usually ends up looking really nice.   


"Lions Gate" - August 2015 - Mixed: digital + photography

What are the biggest inspirations for your digital works and where do you gather your visual inspiration from?

Alex Grey has always been a huge inspiration to me.  I've always enjoyed his style of visionary art.  His book 'The Mission of Art' has also been very meaningful to me as an artist.  Some motion graphic designers who have been a huge inspiration to me are Devan Simunovich (C-trl labs) and Ben Sheppee (LightRhythmVisuals).  They were big names in the VJ scene when I was still learning about visuals and motion graphics.  
I draw a lot of my inspiration from nature, technology, and spirituality.  I like to create art that represents metaphysical concepts or futuristic ideas.  Things like traveling through a wormhole at lightspeed or visualizing invisible energies around us.  Reading lots of Carl Sagan when I was younger helped expose my mind to distant galaxies and outer space. I've always had a huge imagination and all things sci-fi have been highly influential on my work.    


"Sigma"  - Jan 2011 - Digital

If you could collaborate with one person who would it be and what would you hope to create?

I love collaborating with other artists!  I'm hoping to work with a friend of mine, Aaron Rockwell (Progenitor Tech) who is a skilled craftsman that creates some pretty amazing art installations.  I'm hoping to work with him to build a "portal" art installation.  My visuals would be projection mapped onto a spherical shape outlined with LED's and various shapes that move around using motors.  Think: Stargate.  


"Portal"  - June 2014 - Mixed: digital + photography

You also create a series of fabric scrolls for sale, how are these created?

My designs get printed onto high quality polyester.  Then the ends are attached to some scroll ends.  It's very simple but they look great.  I've always like the way scrolls look as opposed to regular posters or canvas prints.  There's a certain aesthetic to them that I find appealing.  I work with a company who manufactures them but I plan to create a few custom designed scrolls soon.


"Spektralux"  - May 2015 - Digital

 

What are your future plans for your digital creations, and what is the piece your currently working on like?

I've recently begun exploring creating 360° visuals for virtual reality.  There is so much potential with this new technology and it's very exciting.  I always like to learn something new when I'm creating and this happens to be big focus for me right now.  I also plan to start exhibiting my art a lot more.  Most of my art has just always been shared online but I'm going to start showing at events and art galleries more.  I'm also going to start selling visual clips to the VJ community.  I've had several people ask me where they could purchase my visuals so that they could be used in their VJ performances.  
The piece that I'm currently working on is a continuation of a series of visuals featuring the platonic solids.  I've created some 3-dimensional polygons and have been animating them in different ways while moving the camera around them.  It sounds pretty simple but the end result looks great.  
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Here is a link to some of my best video art pieces: Shadow Catcher - December 2016 (compilation demo reel of my 2016 video art)

CHECK OUT MORE OF ENDOS WORK www.facebook.com/pg/EricGalindoArt 

INTERVIEW by ART WEEK / HANNAH SMITH