[Interview] Art in the Age of Digital Display: Alberto Montt Discusses the Power of Digital Art and Samsung Art Store

Since its launch in 2017, Samsung Art Store allows for extraordinary, one-of-a-kind art selections to be accessible to consumers from the comfort of their own homes.

Traversing both the impenetrable jungle of the Ecuadorian Amazon to the bustling city of Santiago de Chile, Alberto Montt’s work, which reflects his experience and emotions as gleaned from everyday life, has been featured on Samsung Electronics’ Art Store since 2019, gaining him popularity from fans around the world.

Montt is known in particular for his experimental approach to art, which combines different elements to create a new way for people to enjoy his work. With the rising popularity of digital art forms and new mediums, Samsung Newsroom sat down with Montt to discuss his work and the meaning of digital art.

▲ Alberto Montt

Q: Can you please introduce yourself?

I am a Latin American storyteller. Illustration is my second language. I have about 30 published books, and I do standup performances that mix elements of spoken and graphic language. I am inspired by everyday life and emotional memory, which allows me to relate to the day to day.

Q: Your pieces are known to present cultural and contradictive statements through youthful illustrations. Where does your inspiration for this come from?

Art should force you to think and to question your position in this world. When art does not challenge you, it is pure decoration.

Q: As a storyteller and an illustrator, you utilize digital art as a means to interact with your audience. What can you say about its growing popularity and what are some of the benefits it brings to the art community?

It features multiple mediums, which comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Digital art is a tremendously complex tool that allows communication to be explored from virtually an infinite number of possibilities.

Q: How has your own artwork evolved as digital art and as technology has advanced? Are there any notable changes in your life that were deeply impacted by innovations in technology?

The biggest impact technology has had on my life was allowing me to move around the world while working. These days, I am able to take my workshop and my studio with me wherever I go.

▲ Alberto Montt during his standup performance

Q: Let’s talk about your partnership with Samsung Art Store. What type of role do you think it plays in the evolving, digital art world?

Being part of the Art Store has allowed me to reach a diverse and global audience in a way that no other platform I know can offer. Being able to exhibit digital art with the value it deserves is an achievement that only technology has allowed. With my own Art Store on The Frame, the images I see change very often, and my whole space is consequently altered and delineated by that randomness and diversity.

Q: Are there any advantages of displaying art on screens such as The Frame?

Absolutely. The range of colors and lighting of the screen completely modify the relationship between the viewer and the work. For me, it has been very exciting to plan the works that will enter the Art Store from that perspective. I would love to see how they are observed and “lived” within people’s everyday spaces.

Q: Can you introduce three of your favorite pieces on the Art Store?

Tigre is a visual exercise that takes me back to my childhood. I grew up in the Ecuadorian jungle and although there are no tigers, the idea of the foliage and the innumerable colors and shades of green moves me deeply.

▲ Tigre, Alberto Montt

Laberinto is another one of my favorites. It’s a work that seeks, from graphic simplicity, to represent the complexity of human relationships.

▲ Laberinto, Alberto Montt

Beso is an illustration that is part of a book published in Colombia that discusses curiosity and emotional awakening. This is the picture I like the most from that book, perhaps because it also has that vegetal exuberance.

▲ Beso, Alberto Montt

Q: Finally, where do you see the future of digital art headed?

For me, art is a game that is constantly changing. That reinvention excites me. It is that surprise that keeps me alive.

To see more of Montt’s latest art pieces, including Beso, head to the Art Store on Samsung’s The Frame.