Robert Beatty is a graphic designer from Lexington, Kentucky. After looking at his website, it seems he mostly does album art for a lot of different musicians, and he is a musician himself.
His style is very surreal, and relies on some optical allusions which somehow doesn’t feel super repetitive through all of his art although they have a commonality that runs through all of them. With these optical allusions and without, he also seems to be using vary bright and contrasting colors which gives the art a psychedelic feeling. His work for the most part is extremely distinct and recognizable.
¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/5Ezn169Pyd
— Robert Beatty (@EdSunspot) December 27, 2017
I really enjoyed this short animated video that he created, because of the comical aspect of the whoops that is formed out of the almost organic design that we see in the first frame. These structures that he is using remind me of something you’d see in a biology class but the use of color and contrast along with movement cause them to be something more that stuck out to me.
I love this. The use of space and simplicity is done in such a clean way. It reminds me of Hopper in a lot of ways with the use of space and emptiness. Or Hockney maybe just with the precision of the room itself. It intrigues me. I just want to stare at it all day. This album art for Oneohtrix Point Never’s album “R Plus Seven”.
http://payload427.cargocollective.com/1/4/158872/10844758/prt_400x400_1450454270_2x.jpg
I think the 3D, almost fluid looking shapes he creates are one of the most characteristic and uniquely him things he does. However, personally i’m not really into that. It’s relation to reality makes me slightly uncomfortable because they’re definitely graphically created but the dimension gives them an eerily realistic tinge to it. It shows a lot of technical ability in terms of creating these forms (although to be honest I have no clue how hard it would be).
I was kinda taken aback just scrolling through the front page of his website, and realized I have never looked at who does the album art for a ton of musicians that I enjoy. Turns out Robert Beatty has made a lot of them.