Self-taught digital artist shakes up high-end art world

Hyperrealism artist Stephen Harlan said this weekend's showcase of his work was his first time seeing Wyland Gallery Sarasota since its redesign, and he appreciated the open spaces and brightly lit showcases for the art it houses.

Harlan has shown his work at the gallery for more than a decade, and from May 16 to 18, he demonstrated his creative process for visitors.

That process is extensive, as assistant gallery director Christopher Cotty noted. Creating each piece can take about 600 hours.

"He has a unique talent," he said. "It can be hard for a digital artist to make it to this level of gallery, but his attention to detail, and his striking color, and the balance in his pieces speak for themselves."

Harlan has been working in digital art for the past 35 years. He often unites his water-forward nature landscapes with intricate transportation subjects, like motorcycles or boats lined up in a harbor.

Though he draws inspiration from his Floridian surroundings, he said he uses only his imagination for his ultra-detailed artworks, rather than operating off of reference photos or a particular real-world scene. The only exception is when dealing with the machinery minutiae of particular car parts, for example.

Courtesy image

The artist builds up a scene layer by layer through his proprietary digital process, gradually folding in cyan and magenta highlights.

"It's typically a five-step process, where I start with a simple sketch," he said. "I'll start writing notes to myself about the treatment of light sources and things like that as I get a feel for the piece. I'll start blocking out the colors more, and it goes from there."

Harlan was born in Minnesota but spent much of his childhood in Fort Myers.

Water features prominently in many of his works, and Harlan said he spent plenty of days sailing out on the ocean while growing up in southern Florida.

"I love working with reflections, and being that they're not real, I don't have too many rules to follow beyond making it look believable," he said.

Harlan said he is entirely self-taught and forever grateful for the success he has enjoyed in his career. He is currently on a two-week cross-country tour of the 16 galleries showing his works, with one stop planned for his home base of Carolina Beach, North Carolina.

Most recently, the Southwest has caught his attention. Gallery-goers may catch him at work on his latest piece, titled "Two Feathers."

Digital art comes with its own challenges, but one thing Harlan said he appreciates about it is its malleability.

The creation of each piece comes with its own timeline. Sometimes, a piece needs a little more time in the workshop. Sometimes, it reaches a point where it will likely never become a finished piece. But every one of his pieces in the gallery on St. Armands Circle eventually reached the tipping point of becoming fully realized. 

"They take on a life of their own, which is always exciting," he said.

While many of his works center on bold colors, Harlan does like to challenge himself to break out and try new styles and techniques. Another of his recent releases, titled "Fog," captures the ephemeral waves of grey fog rolling across the ocean's surface, with only a lone white rowboat and suggestion of solid ground peeping through the mist.

Harlan said he hopes first-time viewers of his work experience something akin to taking a big bite of luscious tangerine sherbet, feeling a zing brought on by the combination of vibrancy and realism.

"To be sharing my work in galleries of this caliber, I feel very privileged," he added.

Visit HarlanArt.com to learn more about other locations to see Harlan's works.