Resurfacing Memory: The Intricate Depths of DefiantSquid’s ‘Resolutions’

DefiantSquid is not your usual cephalopod. He swims through the sea, reimagining the world through his watery eyes. Distinct forms become blotted. Straight lines become wavy. Extraordinary works of realism become abstract meditations on a feeling, rather than a subject. He uses his surroundings, his memories, and his favorite moments of art history as his canvas and transforms them into something new, something unexpected.

As he drifts through the ocean, DefiantSquid contemplates the world around him. He sees beyond the surface level and delves deep into the essence of things. His introspective nature allows him to see beauty in even the most mundane objects. A cat. A field. A gathering of pixels. A reflection of shapes in a mirror.

The art that DefiantSquid paints with his tentacles is contemplative, soft, and requires sustained viewing through multiple perspectives in order to see the whole picture. Through his unique viewpoint and introspective nature, DefiantSquid challenges our preconceived notions of reality. He encourages us to look at things from a different angle and to appreciate the beauty that can only be found as we allow ourselves to float into the waters of ambiguity.

One Pixel at a Time

The first description DefiantSquid had for his style was Sonic the Hedgehog meets Piet Mondrian. Sparked by the beauty of minimalism and the innately playful nature of video game art, DefiantSquid looked for bright colors, expressive simplicity, and a sustainable artistic practice that allowed him to follow his vision without becoming a slave to it.

With his appreciation for and experience in traditional painting and drawing, DefiantSquid found a way to merge the old with the new. He used digital art tools to create intricate pixelated works that still held the essence of classical art techniques. Through this process, he discovered that sometimes, it’s not about creating grand masterpieces but rather focusing on each individual pixel. It’s taking one small element at a time and using it to build something greater.

Much like how pixels come together to form a larger image, DefiantSquid’s works act as a sort of experiential archive to track the individual events that make up his life.

Defiance in Three Hearts

As humans, we tend to crave certainty and clarity. We want clear-cut answers and defined boundaries. But life is not always like that. It can be messy, confusing, and full of ambiguity. And it’s in this gray area that DefiantSquid truly thrives.

Though he jokes about hiding behind abstraction, his artwork often explores themes of duality, contradictions, and the blurry lines between reality and perception. By embracing the unknown and embracing ambiguity, DefiantSquid pushes us to question our own beliefs and biases. He reminds us that there is beauty in uncertainty.

One of the most interesting aspects of DefiantSquid’s work is that he embeds stories into each of his works. But it’s not like a play where events lead from one to the next. It’s a foggy experience, one that embraces the inadequacy of the human mind. “The inaccuracy of memory has always interested me,” he told 79Au. “Sometimes I have a really good memory, and sometimes it’s atrocious. I liken it to a high capacity hard drive, but the cable is broken.” In this way, he is addressing the fact that he’s aware that his brain fails, and that there is something he can do to save the data before that happens.

DefiantSquid’s work reflects this idea of fragmented memories, with each pixel representing a moment in time or a piece of the puzzle. 

In his genesis piece on Mint Gold Dust, “Je vais bien, tu vas bien” DefiantSquid embedded fragments of memories from his time at NFTParis. “My hotel room is in there,  different parts of it. The shelves were quite sort of specific and it was a weird layout and had a strange little balcony thing,” he said. In addition to placing certain aesthetic markers throughout the piece, he also experimented with responding to the event right away, rather than working on it later on. In playing with new tools and systems, the literal memories were transformed into something shiny and new.

While specific memories might be ones that only the artist can identify while looking at the final work, viewers can create their own interpretations and meanings. And just as life can be blurred by the feelings of being alive, DefiantSquid’s work reminds us that sometimes it’s okay to not have all the answers, and to embrace the beauty in ambiguity.

The Depths of Imagination

As an artist who lives in the depths of the ocean, DefiantSquid has endless inspiration surrounding him. Visiting museums, studying the works of his favorite artists, and tracking down art prints from his childhood are a few modes of discovery that helped him in building “Resolutions.” His creative process is a mix of imagination and reflection, fueled by a passion for pixels.

“Le Chat pixel” was inspired by “Le chat blanc” Pierre Bonnard, which the artist viewed in Paris at the Musée d’Orsay. Sampling colors and placing the piece on a grid, DefiantSquid looked deeper into the soul of the piece while taking it further away from the original. Ironically, his technique of abstracting the real with brushes aimed at blurring details adds a certain motion to the portrait that does not exist in the original. 

The next work in the series, “The Pixel Field,” was inspired by a Monet art print that used to hang on the wall of his grandparents’ house. And just as one experiences a shift in perspective upon walking closer or farther away from Monet’s landscapes, the viewer can experience a palpable shift while looking at the piece in either a thumbnail, an artwork page, or in full screen. But what is particularly exciting about this piece is the way art history and the failures of memory blend within it. The print in DefiantSquid’s grandparents’ house “was such an old print that the colors had faded. And I remember seeing it in a friend’s kitchen as a teenager, and the colors were completely different. I knew the exact composition because it was burned into my brain and I could actually see sort of the vibrant red of the poppies.” This moment left a mark on DefiantSuid’s relationship with the print, which undoubtedly brings even more layers to the artist’s connection with the piece as he recreated it pixel by pixel.

In “Reflection on Rhomboids,” DefiantSquid swerves into a totally different direction, creating a brand new color scheme and a more abstract, geometric outcome. Inspired by the work of Bridget Riley, we see an almost grid-like formation of blues, purples, yellows and greens. In playing with colors in this way, he was able to recreate the feeling of painting in a digital medium. “Every time I make a mark on the iPad, for example, it comes out slightly differently, and I think that’s my way of reconciling the fact that I’m not using a physical medium that I can mix,” he said. Dragging the brush over and over changes the colors slightly, allowing him to blend colors and textures in a natural way.

And finally, we come to “A Pixel Gathering,” which was based on another art print that the artist could not quite place. “I did actually check with my parents to see if they recognized it,” he said. “And they said they remembered it, but they’re not sure, so it might not be [a memory from] my own house.” An homage, again, to the imperfect nature of memory, this piece is a combination of an art print from an artist who never made it to become a household name, yet whose art made it to itself being a part of people’s home. In the same way that the artist could not exactly place where he saw this print, the viewer cannot exactly determine whether the subject is one person or a group of people. This uncertainty allows each person to take away whatever it is they see and feel, or to float comfortably in the rich greens, browns, and touches of red.

Coming Back to the Surface

As we appreciate the art of DefiantSquid, we realize that his pieces are not just beautiful renderings of nature and memories. They also serve as a reflection of our own minds, constantly shifting and evolving with each new experience. Just like a squid disappearing into the depths of the ocean, our thoughts and perceptions can be elusive and ever-changing.

But just as DefiantSquid eventually resurfaces, so do we. And when we come back up for air, it is through art that we can capture those fleeting moments and hold onto them forever. So take a moment to explore the artworks in “Resolutions” – each one a unique treasure waiting to be discovered. 

Through his art, he challenges us to question our own perceptions and memories, and to embrace the beauty and complexity that comes with imperfection. “These [artworks] are a concrete bit of evidence that that thing happened,” he said. “And without sounding too bleak, I think when I’m older, my mind is going to go before my body does. So the nostalgia is a positive.” 

“I don’t pine for those times,” he said. He finds comfort that they happened and that they are captured in art for him, and the rest of us, to enjoy.