Curved lines are certainly not for this artist, he expresses himself as fluently on paper, as also in sculptures, using only angular and geometric forms. Meet Adam Lister, aptly described by someone as a creator of ‘cubist-pixelated-Nintendo alternate universe’.
Lister, who is currently based in Beacon, New York, explains why he has taken up this unique art form, thus, “My process deals with taking the memory of an image and highlighting its complexity and simplicity at the same time. These paintings are influenced by geometric thinking and a desire to capture the briefness of a mental picture.”
What’s great about Lister is his deliberate avoidance of diagonal and curved lines in his works that tend to lean more towards the geometric structure of Cubism. How he creates his unique art, he has this to say, “I start with a pencil drawing, blocking in a few of the bigger components of my composition…. Then I look to build the initial sketch into a strictly angular and geometric description of the subject, using only vertical and horizontal lines. A circle becomes a square, a diagonal becomes a staircase, and the translation of the original idea is rearranged through an 8-Bit inspired visual language. I find that the transparent and subtle qualities of watercolor paint on heavyweight cold press paper present a nice contrast to the rigid structure of each picture.”
Lister, born in 1978, did Bachelor in Fine Arts in painting from The School of Visual Arts in New York in 2003. What inspired him to create his unique style were the 8-bit graphics of Atari and Nintendo game consoles that don’t use and diagonal and curved lines. It’s really amazing to find popular cultural icons rendered in his style in the most aesthetic combination of different watercolors.
Adam Lister
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