Here's a list of people whose work
has influenced many of us to work with abstract imagery. Some of these artists
have passed on, but others are still producing great works.
Adam Beckett
Jordan Belson
Busby Berkeley
Stan Brakhage
Larry Cuba
Robert Darroll
Sky David
Mary Ellen Bute
Jules Engel
Oskar Fischinger
Hollis Frampton
Hy Hirsch
Len Lye
Norman McLaren
Pat O'Neill
Michael Scroggins
Harry Smith
James Whitney
John Whitney
Many of us are inspired by painting and graphic arts. Not just artists from the 20th century, but also from ancient traditions of non-representational art.
Wassily Kandinski
Joan Miro
Kazimir Malevich
Jackson Pollack
Phillip Rothko
Piet Mondrian
Paul Klee
Hilma Af Klint
Marcel Duchamp
Georgia O'Keefe
Oskar Fischinger
Music is the most popular form of abstract art. It also has a temporal dimension that painting doesn't have. We often look to music for its emotional impact as well as for its formal structures as well. Many artists pursue "visual music", a combination of music and imagery.
Iannis Xenakis
Erik Satie
Sergei Prokofiev
Duke Ellington
Ornette Coleman
Don Cherry
John Lewis and the MJQ
Terry Riley
Steve Reich
Miles Davis
Frederic Chopin
Claude Debussy
J.S. Bach
Poetry has a long history of non-narrative and experimental forms, so it has a lot in common with what we attempt in our works. Poetry often has an economy that is inspiring to many of us, as our works are usually only a few minutes long.
Though some of us work with photographed film and video, most of our work is animated, or created with many steps of processing and compositing. The techniques we employ are the same as those of cartoon animation, visual effects, and other types of filmmaking.
We can't deny the impact of technology on the art we create. Film itself is a relatively new medium, made possible only in an industrial age. Computer technology has made high-quality film and video much more affordable and much easier. This has a huge impact on our artwork. Computers allow us to have professional studios in our homes, and they also allow the creation of new forms of interactive and performance art.