by JULIA MORENO

Cameron Paris manipulates outdated visual media with modern software to cre- ate glitch art. PHOTO/JULIA MORENO

psychedelic, overly pixelated— in other words, very glitchy. Vapor Wave takes classic 1980s songs, slows them down and adds new music or talking clips on top to create a sort of surreal, dreamy- sound. Paris is, for the most part, self-taught. But he said a Facebook group called Glitch Artists Collective was a huge help in learn- To a fault ing new skills. Anyone can post a picture or video of a desired effect and someone in the Cameron Paris group will comment with tips on the best technology and techniques to achieve it. “It’s the largest glitch art member- driven kind of community,” he said. “They Cameron Paris, 30, has always loved have over 50-or-60,000 people in the art—all kinds of art. group, and it’s all across the world. It’s a When he was younger, a love of comic worldwide phenomenon type of thing. I’m books and the thought of creating an entire definitely not the only person doing it.” universe was something that enthralled Paris now has some 45 CRT televi- him. As he grew older, he began exploring sions, along with gear from Tachyons+, increasingly diverse art forms as a way to which is a video gear design team based challenge himself. in Florida that Paris said is “a huge After experimenting with Photoshop art inspiration to what I do and an enabler to and video, in November 2015, Paris discov- what I do.” ered a new type of art that soon became his According to the Tachyons+ next obsession—glitch art. website, the company modifies The best way to describe glitch art is to “obsolete devices built in the ’80s and say it’s a series of digital or analog images, ’90s,” that are used today with modern sometimes with accompanying audio, that technology for things like music videos, have been corrupted for aesthetic purposes. photography, graphic design and film- A glitch can be anything from overly satu- making, to name just a few. rated rainbow-colored images to distorted So, what about glitch art makes it so black and white static that zig-zags across appealing to Paris? the screen. The effect is produced by “I think it’s just—it’s visually enthrall- manipulating digital files, software or ing,” he explained. “I just love the way hardware to create flaws in how the video old technology is used in new and exciting and audio appears on a TV screen. ways because I feel like society has gotten A few months after discovering into this mind state of bigger, better, glitch art, Paris’ own project— badder. … Like the instant something is Cameron16TV—was born. released, we start to forget about all the Paris started out by combing through cool things we’ve made and we don’t see pages of Craigslist ads and Ebay listings to the potential of those things because we’re acquire 16 cathode ray tube (CRT) televi- too quick to ditch it.” sions. He had to go through 10 VHS players Paris has recently used glitch art before he found one that worked. for projects like music videos for local “Where the art part comes in is taking bands. And this year, he put on show at advantage of these glitches and creating a haunted house in Fernley. Ultimately, physical pieces to show,” Paris said in a he would love to combine glitch art with self-made 2016 documentary chronicling virtual reality. his glitch art journey. “Or in my case, video “I know a lot of people aren’t VR glitch art pieces.” savvy yet, but ultimately that’s where Glitch art is also related to a music museums and stuff like that are going,” he and art aesthetic called Vapor said. “And I think going in that direction Wave—which emerged about a decade with this project would be ideal, breaking ago as a microgenre of . the boundaries a little bit with what’s Heavily influenced by the 1980s, glitch possible and infusing glitch art.” Ω art and Vapor Wave feel and look 16 | RN&R | 11.27.19