In our series Behind the Scenes, artists answer questions about their creative process, philosophy, and more. This installment features Bryan Byczek, a New York–based graphic designer and digital artist exploring dreams, place, and memory through color and abstraction. You can see his breathtaking, transcendent series SNST, here. (Read our other exclusive interviews with artists here.)

How would you describe your subject matter or the content of your work?

I like to think of most of my artwork as studies on memory or the disappearance of. Moments in time, at a place or an experience with someone that you can’t quite remember fully—it’s vibrant but cloudy, often saturated, but the details are fuzzy. It comes from dealing with my own bouts of memory loss where I know I’ve experienced something but can’t quite picture it clearly.

All art is theft—true or false?

Yes and no! I think art (and most creative endeavors) builds on what already exists from ages and ages of history, and you put your own personal take on it and hope others see the value you’ve added or augmented what they might have already experienced.

What does your workspace look like?

What advice do you wish you could have given to yourself ten years ago?

To lean more into your art making, because it, for me, acts as a great anti-anxiety tool. And I wish I realized that more than a decade ago—when it could have come in handy to battle against panic attacks and sleepless nights agonizing over professional work and career goals. When I’m in the act of making art, I’m my own client, answering to no one else, that’s very freeing.

Is it better for an artist to be an optimist or a pessimist?

This might be a weird answer, but I tend to be very pessimistic about the future and our world. My work forces me to think about things I care about (places, people, moments), and in a strange way, it makes me optimistic—maybe just for a little bit—it acts like a dose of optimism. Take your medicine, Bryan!

What’s one of your favorite works of art?

What do you consume (art, music, books, film) to help fuel your work?

My partner (an architect) and I have a really unhealthy obsession with creative books. We might have too many—art, architecture, color theory, branding, landscape books of all kinds, from lots of different time periods—but they are great to look through and take notes or spur my imagination. Movies, especially at a theater (with far fewer distractions), also fuel a lot of ideas. But nothing really tops checking out a well-curated show at a museum or gallery to get the creative juices flowing.

How do you know when a work is finished?

I tend to work really fast on a piece, albeit after sketching or notes on an idea, I don’t like to tinker or labor over an element too long because I find it ultimately muddies an idea. Usually, I work on a piece in an afternoon, put it away, and then come back to it in the morning, maybe make a small adjustment or two, and then move on. I like to be in the moment and use that energy to drive the inertia.

What’s an image that makes you want to work hours on end?

In all honesty, what were the last 5 songs you listened to?

Lately, I’ve just been putting my whole library on random, surrendering to the algorithm:

Friends and Enemies by DJ Cam

Turned Out I Was Everyone by Sasami

Like This and Like That by Monica

Tenor Viol by Christopher Bissonnette

ilomo by Billie Eilish

If you could have any artist, living or dead, paint a portrait of you, who would you choose?

I think probably Egon Schiele. I’d be really curious how that would turn out—he seemed to be able to suss out something special and elusive in his subjects. There’s a darkness there he taps into, and I dig it.

Would you rather have not enough to do with your day or too much?

The days where I have time to let my mind drift and wander are the ones where the best ideas materialize. If I’ve got too much to do, I find I can’t really concentrate and focus. Staying organized helps (lists and list of lists), but nothing really helps quite like the benefit of actual quality time.