Ben Libert (@vermillionbird) has rediscovered abstract art thanks to his mobile phone. After getting away from creating computer-generated abstracts, Ben, who lives in Bloomington, Illinois, discovered his phone is a lightweight alternative to produce his work. “I really like the idea of taking a phone camera, that’s designed to make even your bad snapshots look good, and ‘tricking’ it with materials and lighting and things to get these abstract images,” he says.
The textures and colors in Ben’s photos all come from everyday things around him — like metal, plastic and glass. “I don’t like to get too specific, because I don’t want to encourage people to spend their time trying to figure out the context of the image instead of looking at it as a picture unto itself,” says Ben. “People should enjoy art however they wish, but to the extent that abstract art can be something of an acquired taste, I think it’s good to encourage people to look at things differently.” Photo by @vermillionbird