Introduce yourself
Hey hey hey, Anelly here, aka xfrgmnts! I’m a Chicago based designer and digital artist. Play and work intertwine on the daily for me. During the day, I design, animate and program digital ads for online platforms. As the night creeps in, so do my pastel gradient experiments. I stay hustlin’ on the regular and always trying to challenge myself and grow as an individual and as an artist.
I like to think myself as that file on your computer that you’ve saved over and over again and named “Untitled_100” for the 100th time because you can’t make up your mind on what to actually call it because it keeps developing and changing every time you open it up.
When did you first start getting interested in art?
I’ve always had an itch for expanding my creativity, through any medium I could get my hands on, but It wasn’t until high school that I realized I could make it my career. I was a part of a photography internship all throughout high school. That paved the way for me and lead me to discover graphic design, which instantly became something I wanted to immerse myself in.
A recurring theme within your artwork is your blue and pink colors. What is it about pink and blue that you like so much within your artwork?
Blues and pinks represent the spectrum of my dream-like fantasy world. They’re colors that the eye doesn’t get to see quite often, in the real tangible world we live in. I love that they emit calm, content, cool feel that create this positive, strong, vibrant platform for my dreamy objects to live in.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I try to draw inspiration from everything that I come across, especially from my everyday routine. I can be inspired by a line I read in one of my favorite Haruki Murakami books, or by my daily jams that I use to tune out crowded CTA buses and trains or by my fellow artist friends snappin’ on social media. I try to absorb all of it and use that to fuel ideas that I cumulate, all written on a sticky note inside my phone 🙂
Talk to us how you create abstract works that represent femininity and empowerment in a digital space
I like to believe that the blend of my soft hues and dreamy gradients sets a feminine ambiance and works together with my illustrations, 3D renderings, and typography designs. All these elements coming together to reveal a fusion of the curiosity and pride of being a woman, that I explore every day.
You created a series a few months back on the daily harassment women face every day. The series was called No thnx…. Talk to us about this series
“No Thnx” is a series inspired by one of my favorite artist, Signe Pierce. Pierce made me realize the growing market behind “cute” weapons that almost, just almost, makes you forget about the underlying purpose for them. In today’s society, a simple “No thanks” sometimes isn’t enough to be left alone and we feel the need to buy a weapon that gives us a sense of safety when walking out into the world. And that sense of “safety” has a whole market dedicated to women consumers, that feminizes these weapons, so well, that it almost hides the harassment culture behind why we need them.
What piece of artwork means the most to you?
I think they all relatively mean a lot to me. They all make up a visual timeline of my growth as a digital artist. They all show a piece of who I am and who I am trying to become.
Chicago Creatives 