Making Visible the Invisible with jmpntr2217
Behind the Digital Art of an Architect and Oil Painter
I recently stumbled across a piece by jmpntr2217 from a repost on X by my good friend, Santiago. It was like nothing I’d seen before and I was instantly intrigued. There was a quality to it that felt natively digital and it had a level of depth that made me want to sit with it for a while. The work had a beautiful texture with a rich color palette, these cool mapping lines, a tasteful GIF element, and more to discover as I continued to look at it. I had never heard of this artist and I wanted to know more.
Upon further exploration, I was excited to find that this artist had quite a few works in the style of the one that caught my attention. It was apparent that he had a method and was trying to exploit its potential.
What surprised me was how little known jmpntr2217’s work seemed to be in the space so far. Considering the impact it had on me, I had the urge to learn more about the person behind the art and how this interesting style was created. My respect and intrigue for this artist increased even more after reaching out to him.
Without further ado, meet jmpntr2217.
Note: the larger GIF files don’t work on this platform, so most of them are in video format here. Click the links below them to see the real piece.
[Artwork: Sunflowers V]
When I recently came across your work on X, I was immediately captivated by the tasteful mix of native digital and painterly style. I’m eager to learn about the art itself, but first help me understand how you arrived at this type of work. Tell me about your background.
First, I would just like to thank you for reaching out and giving me an opportunity to share my story. It is not easy to get in-depth, informative discussions in this space in my limited experience being here. So thank you again for reaching out.
My path to this work started with trad-art oil painting in my parents' basement in Westchester County, NY. I am self-taught and learned mostly from looking at paintings and lots of experimentation - just picking up a brush and palette knife and getting dirty, discovering, making and failing.
That foundation in oils, combined with obtaining my Masters at Columbia University in architecture, created a hybrid sensibility that I think defines everything I do now. I was painting while thinking about architecture and making architecture while thinking about painting, if that makes sense.
My architectural training taught me to think systematically and how this shapes human experience. Oil painting taught me the importance of physical, tactile work that could convey emotional resonance.
The beginning of merging these two somewhat contradictory sensibilities started in my last year at Columbia, where I began to heavily weigh (conceptually) the people and topics I would explore in my painting. It is also where triptychs, groups and a seriality to my work took shape, very architect-ie. I would dive deep into themes and topics that I am passionate about.
But, trad-art portraiture felt inadequate for what I wanted to explore as time went on. The people/figures I was exploring don't operate through physical presence—their influence flows through terminals, algorithms, and networks.
[Artwork: Harmonic Flow]
How do you paint someone whose decisions fragment and reconstruct socio-economic and political networks through systems?
That's where the digital transformation became almost necessary.
The computational aesthetics you see—the computer generated structures, the interface elements, the cellular fragmentation— are architectural tools for visualizing invisible systems.
What you're responding to as that "mix of native digital and painterly style" comes from treating digital tools as extensions of trad-art painting processes while using them to reveal what trad-art media simply cannot.
My various collections investigate one central question: where does human end and system begin? This connects to what's become my working moniker, almost an internal filter before releasing work into the world: making visible the invisible.
Each portrait, figure and even still life function (it is hoped) on a multi-scalar conceptual level: representation, system simulation, and critical investigation. I build layers, create texture, and work with color relationships the same way I did with oils and leverage computer generated structures to make visible the invisible.
What a beautiful way to combine two unique skillsets. When I look at your work I see what looks like network graphs forming impressionistic portraits and flowers. Are you using some kind of real-world data, or is it a mapping of an image?
The 'network graphs' you see are actually mappings of source imagery that has gone through multiple computational transformations. I start with photographs of my subjects and put them through various digital manipulations—filters, effects, transformations—that fragment and reconstruct them into what I call networked systems.
The imagery becomes abstracted, and it is this that attempts to visualize the invisible apparatus that shapes our emotional and social reality. The fragmented infrastructure you see reflects how we all exist within technological and economic systems that reconstruct us daily.
The key to this process is maintaining recognizability while introducing systematic fragmentation—creating works that function simultaneously as portraits and as visualizations of the technological systems we're all embedded within. This leaves room for experimentation on my end and discovery for the audience.
[Artworks: The Painter I, II, III; Video by jmpntr2217]
I’m fascinated by this central framework of ‘making visible the invisible’. Do you mind expanding on this? What are you looking for? How would you like the audience to engage with your work through this lens?
This moniker you refer to is a mental filter, a conceptual screening of my work that I think about on a daily basis when making. It's the overarching throughline that connects all the works, triptychs, series and collections into a cohesive project—a body of work that maintains what I hope is a form of critical positioning within contemporary thinking.
As creators and artists, it's our responsibility to raise awareness and highlight a broad spectrum of feelings and sensations in the world, but also to detect, investigate and examine areas of concern—power structures, inequality, and other forms of socio-economic and political injustice that often go unnoticed by current social mechanisms.
These areas of concern often go unnoticed precisely because the systems that perpetuate them operate invisibly.
[Artwork: "Spectral IX" (Portrait Study of David Einhorn)]
Networks, algorithmic decision-making, surveillance infrastructure—these shape our daily reality but remain largely unseen. My work attempts to develop visual languages to expose these invisible forces.
When I fragment a portrait of a subject through my multilayered computer generated structures, I'm not just making art—I'm creating investigative tools. The patterns, the interface elements, the surveillance aesthetics you see aren't decorative choices; they're attempts to visualize how power actually operates in our technological moment.
I want audiences to engage with my work as both an aesthetic experience and an analytical framework—a process of developing awareness that takes time and engagement. The goal isn't just to look at these pieces but to develop what I call "systems consciousness"—an awareness of how invisible technological and socio-economic and political infrastructures shape our emotional and social reality.
The fragmentation that is consistent in my work is reflective of how we're all constantly being processed, analyzed, and reconstructed by these systems. I want viewers to recognize themselves in this process, to ask: where does my agency end and systematic processing begin? Once you can see these systems, you can begin to find spaces for genuine human action within them.
[Artworks: Figure Study I, II, III; Video by jmpntr2217]
Something that immediately drew my attention to your work was your sense of color and texture. How do you approach these elements?
These are both very much reliant on experimentation and discovery. Much like in traditional painting, some of the most compelling effects emerge from chance - accidents that occur during the process of making. I'm constantly challenging myself to develop new techniques and learn new tools to find the specific experience I want to convey to the viewer.
For example, because I try to make something daily and am always working multiple pieces at the same time, there’s what I like to call an almost cross-pollination effect, where what was learned on one piece is applied to another, but the result is different. It’s quite powerful and something I found is digital specific - this type of experimentation is not possible with traditional oil paint.
For instance, a color interaction I discover while working on a portrait might transform completely when applied to a different subject such as a figure or a flower because the underlying structural framework is different.
[Artworks: Masters of the Universe; Video by jmpntr2217]
One of the biggest challenges of digital work is conveying that sense of texture - for me this is a weighted, nuanced heaviness—a tactility you can almost feel. This is very much something I'm after. I want viewers to sense the materiality even though they're looking at pixels on a screen. I'm trying to achieve a sense of visual weight and density that makes the work feel substantial rather than flat.
It's funny, but over time I've noticed how my digital process mirrors my traditional oil practice. I work in very thick, multilayered applications with a balance of structural line work. In the digital realm, I'm essentially building up layers of computational effects the same way I build up paint—creating density and visual weight through accumulation. The goal is achieving what I think of as a sense of physical presence in a digital medium.
[Artwork: Storm Cluster]
You have a tasteful way of applying small GIF animations to many of the pieces as well, another layer that adds to the rich aesthetic of your work. Do you mind talking a bit about the tools and processes that go into making these?
This is something I find so enticing working digitally and really works well with my focus on portraiture and figures. The animations provide an additional layer that's impossible in traditional art - subtle movement and color shifts that bring an invisible effect to life.
For portraiture, animations suggest the abundance of systemic digitalization we are constantly exposed to - the networked systems that shape us.
In general, the process of finding where and how to incorporate animation has evolved significantly over time. It's much more integrated into my practice now. In the beginning, animation was something that would 'finalize' a piece. Now, it's more integrated up-front, woven into the creative process from the start.
[Artwork: Adapted]
Tools-wise, I use off-the-shelf software. I enjoy the constraint of using tools readily available to anyone - it keeps the focus on concept and execution rather than the technology.
I use my phone quite a bit to capture source imagery. Adobe Creative Suite is my mainstay - primarily Photoshop and Illustrator, plus a few other tools I'd rather keep to myself at the moment. I've explored others but none have been consistent in my workflow.
[Artwork: Overload I]
What brought you to the NFT art space? Was it crypto initially, or did you discover other artists minting their works?
I started really being curious in 2020-2021. At the time, I was working at a startup and was introduced to the space via co-workers. I started with speculating on crypto. It was fun, but my interest waned over time. Slowly I started looking into art - PFPs mostly - but some other artists and projects as well. Nothing really stuck. I was deep in startupland and oil painting whenever I was not working, so time was limited.
But, I did stick around, kind of lurking for years. Really just observing and listening to others in the space, watching how different artists built communities, seeing market cycles, understanding how the technology enabled new forms of art distribution and ownership.
Then, with some life changes that freed up time and creative energy, I began to see how my work investigating socio-economic and political power structures could find a natural home in a space that was itself built on those very systems.
I really saw how my work could leverage the unique aspects of this crypto/art space - the digital-native audience, the technological infrastructure, the global accessibility - and actually think my computational approach may operate better on a technology-based platform than in traditional gallery spaces.
[Artwork: Flowers (Pink & Yellow) III]
Who are some of your favorite artists in the space?
One who really opened possibilities for me early was @jaknft. I'm not sure exactly what it was at the time, but seeing how the works were composed and some of the conceptual narrative some pieces held made me realize the potential of the medium.
When I really started contemplating minting in 2024, I discovered @rj16848519's work, and the way they approach depicting the figure through digitization really resonated with my own investigations in oil painting, of developing new ways to depict the figure.
Others I follow closely include @skomra [pixelation], @cydr [texture], @canekzapata [composition/GIFs], @ttiimmees [experimentation] , @0xjoain [abstraction], @joepease [narratives]- artists who are all pushing different aspects of digital art.
jmpntr2217’s Links
Thank you for reading,
-LW❤️🔥
Excellent.
Very inspiring.