Robert Beatty
My first artist blog will be about Robert Beatty. Beatty is a Lexington, Kentucky born-and-raised graphic artist and musician. He creates unique, psychedelic digital works of art with his vintage computers from the 90s and early 2000s. Some of his most well-known creations include Challenger (2008), Currents (2015), and Oczy Mlody (2017). I will also include my powerpoint lecture link at the end of this blog post if you would like to check out more of his work and the references I used.
Burning Star Core’s Challenger album cover (back) by Robert Beatty
Challenger is the piece that Beatty believes began his career as a digital artist. He was able to stylistically express his love for pre-digital graphic design using airbrushing techniques. Many of Beatty’s new followers were intrigued at his use of color contrast and use of shape to make this eye-catching image. Thus, fueling his passion that would eventually lead to making hundreds of album covers for future musicians.
Currents is an award-winning cover created about seven years after the iconic cover Challenger. Beatty would joke around in interviews saying, “the result is part physics textbook, part lava lamp.” He once again used extreme contrast with his color choices and chose to have a spherical centerpiece. He began experimenting with line and transformation within the picture. Although 70s sci-fi posters and artwork played a large role in inspiration for this style, he would pay particular attention to how liquids flowed around solid objects and replicated that with bold lines.
Finally, Oczy Mlody is a notable work that Beatty created just two years ago. His style slowly morphed from extreme color contrast to presenting multiple bold colors throughout the cover. Sci-fi still had an impact on his choice of line and imagery, creating a more abstract look. What makes this cover special is that he purposely had it manufactured so that certain parts of the image glow under a blacklight to create the futuristic theme of the cover.
For more information on Robert Beatty and my references, check out my powerpoint here!
