Robert Beatty is an artist and musician working in Lexington, KY, USA. He works on a number of creative projects using a mixture of techniques - most recognizable though is his retro-futuristic airbrush aesthetic that is currently sweeping underground album cover art world.

Robert Beatty Flickr

• For the people who don't know your work - how would you describe it ?


• Reality melting into strange dystopian dreamworlds.

• What are the key themes running through your practice?


• Melting, plants, obsolete technology, mazes, retro futurism, yonic portals, cracks, eggs, smoke, masks, faces, abstractions of body parts, simple geometric forms, repetition and decay.

• Your favorite place on earth?


• Kentucky. Maybe Belgium.

• What influences your work?


• Movies, music, nature, girls, technology, viscosity.

• What music are you into right now?


• Getz/Gilberto, Morphosis, Russian Tsarlag, Mr. Fingers, Gui Boratto, Arthur Russell, Attempt, Steely Dan, The Beach Boys, Tara Cross, Auto Delta Time, Daily Life, Wet Hair, R. Stevie Moore, Evie Sands, Colin Blunstone, The Lo Yo-Yo, Suicide. Always lots of different stuff...

• Describe your thought & design process...


• I usually go over things in my head so much that by the time I actually begin working on something it happens pretty quickly. I very rarely sketch anything out before I start working.

• Which emerging artists are you looking forward to seeing more of?


• CF, Takeshi Murata, Nate Boyce, Francine Spiegel, Shawn Reed and Ryan Garbes.

• Favorite place on the internet?


• I am obsessed with Flickr and the amazing wealth of images on it.

• Do you have any upcoming projects/exhibitions we should know about?


• I'm having my first solo art exhibition at Institute 193 (www.institute193.org) here in Lexington, Kentucky. It is called "Cream Grid Reruns".I'm also always working on tons of album covers, videos, and music.

• Tell us something we don't know - but should...


• I grew up on a tobacco farm.