Spotlight on Hasan Alsaif: Visual Artist Who is Blurring the Lines between Art and Technology

lowercase pink is Hasan’s collaborative multi-medium series blurring the line between the imaginative and real, metaphorical and literal, abstract and concrete. the process starts with a journey to collect projections of expression. from this ensues a conversation, connection, and contribution from humans with hand-drawn pieces on a sketchbook. the drawn lines become a guide for finding companion photography strokes. once found, the layers are composited together into a final piece.

Have you ever thought about how technology influences art and vice versa? Meet daring and accomplished Visual Artist Hasan Alsaif, whose bold creations are unique and forward-looking! Every month, out of hundreds of submissions, NY Art Life selects a creative and artistic professional to shed light on their success and achievement. Visual Artist Hasan Alasaif will talk to us today about his multifaceted career as a Visual Artist. 

NY Art Life 

Thank you so much for joining us! Your work is so complex and truly in tune with the technology focused society that we live in.  On a side note, you’re the first type of visual artist that explores technology that we have included in our publication. 

Hasan Alsaif 

Thank you for this recognition! Also, thank you for selecting me to pioneer this art form for your publication. The type of work that I create is visually complex but layered with many different concepts and theories which are both rooted in art, design, and technology. 

NY Art Life 

Exactly. This is why we selected you for our spotlight series. Not only is your work very complex, but it is self-evident that you draw from multiple disciplines. For example, I was quite impressed with ellia.com. Can you tell me more about it? 

Hasan Alsaif 

Elllia.com is an experimental photo sharing social network. It holds a special place in my heart since it was my first venture into building and designing an end to end experience. The process of designing the user experience was centered around telling visual stories by unifying text and photos in the same medium. 

This was my own unique endeavor and designed a user interface to tell visual stories by unifying photos and text in the same medium. I also hired and managed a full time backend developer to complete time-based milestones. 

NY Art Life

Wow, and that’s not all that you have designed. Tell us more about Moje. 

Hasan Alsaif

​​Moje is a music curation platform designed for discovery, support, and building a connection with independent artists. it’s a design solution for artists impacted by covid-19, providing a second source of income supplementing live performance. the process of designing the user experience was aligned around the values of discovery, generosity, and connection. these values were considered while making design decisions to ultimately empower musicians by compelling users to become patrons.

I created and designed an innovative  user experience to support, discover, and connect with independent musicians. Additionally, I conducted user research by interviewing musicians and showcasing prototype. 

This was a very interesting project for me because it allowed me to design a unique user experience and combine my love and appreciation for music. It was a multidisciplinary approach to an art based project and I am truly proud of its success. 

NY Art Life 

This is exactly why we selected you for our spotlight series. Your multidisciplinary approach to art is quite compelling and directly influences your more abstract work and high-art conceptual work.

Hasan Alsaif 

Yes, this is exactly how I want my work to be perceived: as high-brow abstract expressionism. This is most self-evident in my cyberpunk film noir series. Cyberpunk is an artistic subgenre which focuses on the use of technology. For example, The Matrix Trilogy is a well known cyberpunk film series.  

My film series is inspired by the aesthetic development of a series of photographs and my  lighting process utilizes long exposure with lasers and blue light. I incorporated the cyberpunk aesthetic to convey deeper meanings and commentate on modern society and sometimes predictions of our future society.

NY Art Life

This is amazing. One thing that makes you different from other artists is your strong foundational knowledge of art, design, and technology. 

Hasan Alsaif 

Yes, my background comes through in all that I do and my research has been fundamental to understanding and communicating art to the world. I published a paper entitled, Analyzing Co-occurrence Networks of Emojis on Twitter, which focuses on the use of emojis on Twitter. Emojis have become an integral part of digital communication in recent years. They promote the expression of emotions and ideas through visual icons of people, animals, and symbols. Twitter provides a platform for discussion and commentary in real time with a diverse and global audience, making it a good candidate for studying the usage of emoji across various topics. 

NY Art Life

What an amazing achievement! Not only are you a stunning Visual artist, but you are also a published author! 

What piece of advice would you like to give our readers?

Hasan Alsaif

Just create.