Electrifying Digital Abstract Art

Merging the analog with the digital, fusing ne art with a design sensibility, Kevin O’Connell never completely leaves any of those realms. He’s both a ne artist who shoots representational imagery from the natural world and an electrifying digital abstractionist. Even better, “electrifying” is not just a metaphor here, as O’Connell really is an electrician. He entered a four-year apprenticeship program straight out of high school—not normally a path applicable to a ne arts or design career. Nevertheless, being an electrician allowed him to travel all over the world, which subsequently allowed him to photograph numerous obscure locations off the beaten path. One pursuit led to the other, so to speak. “All the men in my family including grandfathers, father, uncles, and cousins were electricians, so I was expected to do the same,” O’Connell recalled. “This job was never appealing to me, so I also freelanced as a photographer shooting weddings and portraits as well. In 2005, I needed to work as an artist, photographer full time, so I decided to use my skill as an electrician to work in remote places around the world that other photographers could not go to unless they had a skilled trade license.” As a result, O’Connell lived all over the globe for ve years, nding himself in places like Antarctica or islands in the central Paci c Ocean. High school electives in traditional photography, previously thought to only be a hobby, now came to the forefront and O’Connell found his calling. A few years ago, he went back to college to pursue a digital design degree at the Illinois Institute of Art, which only further enhanced his digital aesthetic. “Digital imagery made it fun and exciting to design abstract-style digital paintings with a twist,” O’Connell says. “I have always been very fond of colors and shadow, so working with digital imagery I can change the shadow structure of individual pieces and parts along with different depths of color.”