“Expansion” (Patrick Amadon image. GIF sequence viewable here.)
(Editor’s note: Most images featured in this interview are stills of physical paintings used as the base images for animated loops in Amadon’s series “Sequence.” The loops, or sequences, can be viewed through links in the image credits, while an explanation of the concept behind the series can be found here.)
1/1: Please introduce yourself.
Patrick Amadon: I’m a digital artist. Have been at it for the past decade, doing a lot of glitch blended with graffiti. China wants to throw me in prison for work I did in Hong Kong. Sotheby's wishes they could do the same.
1/1: What art have you been working on lately?
Patrick Amadon: I’ve been working on the 404 Foundation, which is a non-profit I started to promote artist discovery in our space. It consists of a quarterly exhibition and a corresponding curation from the community. In four months, we’ve had over 6,000 submissions.
Discovery is a huge issue, and an avenue to cut through chain/platform bias and the social media algo game helps.
For art, focused primarily on building digital technology to disrupt censorship and weave that into art.
(X screenshot, @patrickamadon)
1/1: Can you describe your workspace and how it influences your art?
Patrick Amadon: No music. 42” monitor. Have a large studio for physical work as well. I started off as a painter, and I still use physical work in nearly all of my digital pieces.
1/1: What tools do you use? Do you work with any special devices or tools unique to your creative process?
Patrick Amadon: Mixed digital. I’ll use photography, spray cans, oil paints, and all the digital tools.
1/1: What draws you to glitch art?
“Singularity” (Patrick Amadon image. GIF sequence viewable here.)
Patrick Amadon: Glitch is the result of corrupting the code of a file. Thematically, most of my work is socio-political commentary focusing on systems and corruption. Seems to fit.
1/1: You’ve said that earlier in your career, you had to break out of something you called “zombie formalism.” Can you elaborate on what that term means to you?
Patrick Amadon: Basically, a bunch of people making art that’s been dead for a while in the contemporary art scene—abstract, minimalism, etc., but because teachers are often older and grew up when those styles were current, they teach their love to the students. Teachers = formalism. Keeping some styles of art long dead alive by continually resurrecting them? Zombie.
1/1: In March of this year, your artwork, “No Rioters,” flashed subliminal messages about the 2019 Hong Kong protests onto a massive billboard in the city. This got written up in lots of media and drew the eye of the Chinese Communist Party. How does this act and its aftermath feel to you now, the better part of a year later? What were the big takeaways?
Patrick Amadon: It’s important not to forget the sacrifices of the protestors as well as appreciate how fragile our freedoms are. HK was a thriving democracy, and a few years later, it became a vassal surveillance state. I was targeted by the Chinese government with custom malware and am facing significant jail time if I return. HK is currently passing a law that would class artists like me as foreign agents. Goes to show the power of digital art. That’s something special about the space we’re in right now.
“No Rioters” (Patrick Amadon image. GIF viewable here.)
1/1: How do you approach developing an idea into a finished piece? Can you walk us through your workflow?
Patrick Amadon: I’ll be working on five or six different pieces at a time. I’ve never really known what will be done when. Sometimes, you’ll make an innocuous brush stroke and realize the piece is complete; other times, you’ll feel it's almost done but it doesn’t feel quite right and you never finish it. It’s painted over. It’s really a feel thing that is different with each work. I take a lot of photos, explore for graffiti, and contribute. Always gathering elements I can use in the digital work, which is always mixed digital.
1/1: Can you describe a typical day in your artistic practice, including any rituals or habits?
Patrick Amadon: David Mamet once told me that if you aspire to be a writer, you have to figure out how to write for eight hours a day. I believe the same for art. I spend most of my day working on projects. I’m an early riser.
“Attack Vector” (Patrick Amadon image. GIF sequence viewable here.)
1/1: How do you feel about the impact of generative AI on the creative process? Do you have a favorite AI tool?
Patrick Amadon: I love content-aware fill and generative fill. AI is a tool and a powerful one at that. It’s interesting to see how we develop tools for artists with it.
1/1: Are there any specific works of art (music, literature, film, etc.) that inspire or have significant meaning to you in your artistic practice?
Patrick Amadon: I studied literature alongside art history at university. Was always drawn to the existentialists. That bleeds a lot into my narratives.
“Virus” (Patrick Amadon image. GIF sequence viewable here.)
1/1: How do you come up with titles for your work?
Patrick Amadon: It’s not a completed piece without the right title. Sometimes, I’ve finished pieces but couldn’t title them so I didn’t release. In retrospect, without fail, I realized I couldn’t title it because the work wasn’t sufficiently concepted out.
1/1: What draws you to NFTs, and how do you see them as different from traditional art markets?
Patrick Amadon: Democratization of art both from a creation/career standpoint but as well as access for collectors and those interested in art. It’s different seeing digital art digitally; it’s native, unlike a photo of a work.
1/1: You’ve made a point of immersing yourself in the technology side of NFTs and incorporating that into your work. What’s the biggest thing you think most digital artists are missing when it comes to that?
Patrick Amadon: Art should be on the medium it makes the most sense. If it would look better as a physical (most static pieces do), it should probably be a physical. Digital offers so many new elements from a coding/software perspective that art has never been able to tap into before. Art that embraces the medium in the most interesting ways will age better.
“Infected” (Patrick Amadon image. GIF sequence viewable here.)
1/1: What advice would you offer for someone just getting into NFTs?
Patrick Amadon: For collectors, get to know artists so you can find work you like. For artists, get to know artists because a career in digital art is much more possible with a supportive group of friends.
1/1: Who are some of your favorite artists in the NFT space?
Patrick Amadon: @CaballeroAnaMa, @marianamakwaia, @_deafbeef—off the top of my head this morning.
1/1: What are you working on next?
Patrick Amadon: An anti-censorship series that offers access to a free and open internet in restricted countries.
“Zeroed” (Patrick Amadon image. GIF sequence viewable here.)