Dylan L. Bass is a native of Pensacola, Florida, pursuing an undergraduate degree in digital arts at the University of West Florida. He blends traditional and digital mediums to navigate past each medium's limitations, and create artwork born from this cohesion. Recently, Dylan has been fascinated by the deep symbolism found within old album covers from artists such as Pink Floyd, Kansas, and Boston. However, he wants to dissect the symbolism and see why some of the album covers still resonate with the many political/cultural/artistic messages that contemporary artists are utilizing in their artwork. Upon graduation, Dylan plans on attending the Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) Emerging Media program at the University of Central Florida and wishes to learn more about three-dimensional design, animation, or other experimental media-based mediums. A fun fact about Dylan is that he enjoys watching/reading various media that focus on incorporating design elements into characters, i.e., a character’s name can translate or symbolize their character traits/mannerisms. As a result of this blend of storytelling and incorporation of simple yet appealing design is another influence on Dylan’s creative thought process.
I am, first and foremost, an illustrator. I focus on anatomy, specifically the hands. Inspired by Magritte, I am working on blending symbolism and realism of the human form rather than working purely figuratively. Because of the strange comfort when intermingling different materials, paints, inks, etc., digital and physical, I became an interdisciplinary artist working with digital and traditionally made art mediums. As a result, my main focus is to blend digital graphic design, computer-generated three-dimensional designs, and physical charcoal, linoleum carvings, etc., to create artwork that joins symbolism and realism.