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Dlela Lombard
Dlela Lombard

WIZARD MASK
Rare Digital Art (2016-2020)
pre-AI-gen artist process
TIF / 55 x 41,36 cm at 300 dpi
Photoshop CS6 13.0


When photo editing mirrors the darkroom, and the invisible is made visible, photography breaks free from mere documentation to become a poetic medium in an experimental and innovative spirit.The whole process was also part of A MOVIMENTO study, on a labtop while practising less sitting and more movement envisioning multiple possible futures; this way I was celebrating human creativity serving as a rehearsal for what may or may not arrive.


Artist Process — Pre-AI Digital and Beyond

Life is not about finding yourself, but about creating yourself.This flow process turned me into a digital artist after photography; ''t’s another version of an old gatekeeping argument about purity, authenticity, and technical mastery to state that artworks that involve writing computer code qualify as “digital art” while artworks created using Photoshop or other media applications do not''_ Dr. Lev Manovich


I am a largely self-taught visionary photographer and solo digital artist based in Germany, working across photography, drawing, painting, digital processes and, since 2023, AI-assisted image making. My practice explores perception, transformation, and the space between conscious, unconscious and collective imagination.


After working in analogue photography, film production stills, fashion and commercial photography, I eventually concentrated on book-cover imagery, particularly crime and thriller aesthetics. Around the time I left that field, and following the deaths of my parents, I began moving towards a new medium.

From 2000 onward I had been working with digital imagery and have used earwax ( a bit like autism since London) ; this way I could expand the necessary silence out of which creation arises, undisturbed, creating out of being, the source connection.During a shutdown the brain is sorting through an overload of sensory data. This is the processing that fuels artistic and musical creativity. The universe creates through silence, flowing from absolute stillness into form.


Between 2016 and 2020, I developed an entirely human-made, intuitive generative process using deliberately blurred photographs of nature, GREEN as raw material.The idea for this was a light bulb moment,I could see with the eye of my mind how to begin. I would continue working on a piece until new imaginative forms emerged.In Photoshop, I treated pixels almost as physical matter.It is called destructive photo editing.Photo-editing software “non-destructive” tools are built around flexibility and revision-driven workflows, often shaped by commercial and client-based demands. While practical, this approach can sometimes feel overly controlled or creatively limiting.By contrast, “destructive” editing embraces a more instinctive and organic process leading to distinctive, unrepeatable textures and a more authentic visual language through photo editing.


Through distortion, layering, fragmentation, accumulation, erasure and spontaneous gestures, I repeatedly dismantled and rebuilt the image.Stripping away familiar forms in order to discover something that was not visible before.I was not simply correcting or enhancing a photograph; I was sculpting it. The original photograph became a kind of raw substance from which another visual reality could emerge.Creating from formless photo pixel content was akin to painting onto a blank canvas.It felt like creating in a flow out of my own essence, Being, the formless universal dimension (screen as canvas).


The purpose of creating art out of the formless is to give form to that which is resting in the formless, allowing the unmanifested consciousness to come into the world of form'' ''As long as you go within, and give form to that which is resting in the formless, be used by it — so that through you it can come into this world of form''._Eckhart Tolle; The medium does not matter. This is how discovering it felt to me.When the formless dimension of Being plays with the physical world, it creates the ultimate game of cosmic hide-and-seek. Form is how the universe expresses its creativity, textures, and humor, one can be a medium for this.


This process, exemplified by _Wizard Mask_, became a personal visual language based on imagination, intuition, chance and transformation. Its beauty lies not only in the finished image but in the process of discovery itself. Digital editing gave me a way into a new medium while remaining connected to the photographic way of seeing, making the latent visible.The possibilities emerge through transforming, interpreting, and reshaping what is already there.The creative process transforms a formless, blurred digital image of the outdoors into new imaginative forms. By working with the image’s ambiguity and limitations, one may engage with both obstacles and possibilities. Through this transformation, art becomes a space where potential forms and alternative ways of seeing can be explored and emotionally experienced.


''AI did not create my artistic method. it became a later tool within an already-developed human generative practice.I was bringing my own vision in instead of letting an AI dictate the pixels.''

────୨ৎ────


Background

I was born into the sixties in Germany. My father was a filmmaker and screenwriter at a time of typewriters; my mother oppressed and sometimes luminous,both of them were abusive and suffering from their traumas however of course also had their positive traits. Their lives, and my own early experiences, contributed to an understanding of resilience and renewal that later became embedded in my artistic practice.

The foundation of my practice is photography. After a decade devoted to analogue photography and darkroom work, I underwent a radical personal transformation around the age of thirty. In 1990, after a period of personal upheaval and wicked circumstances I destroyed all my photographic analogue work before a spontaneous sudden Kundalini was rising, often personified as the divine feminine or "Mother of the Universe". When this life-force energy activates the nervous system, it unplugs the consciousness from old conditioning, creating a phase of purification.This can trigger a disorienting identity crisis as the ego's grip thins.As the fire burns away the fragmented, conditioned self, identification shifts from the lower personality to the Higher Self (I am presence),this was my beginning journey of individuation.


This process of destruction of the old was already something I knew,it served as a primary driver for creation, a rebirth.I did not study art-history however based on self-interest since early years and within the last years online especially. '' Disaster and trauma frequently act as powerful muses, compelling artists to process collective or personal catastrophe through their work.The creative process itself is often viewed as an act of creative destruction, where established norms, self-doubt, or previous works must be dismantled to make way for genuine innovation.The creative process in art often follows a recurring behavioral and psychological pattern, even though every artist's journey is unique.'' __quote Once there was a trauma however it was healed thus I am not trying to sell a trauma or curate pain.I am merely mentioning it to share making it conscious.


My formal photographic training included one year at a private photography school, followed by extensive self-directed study. My background includes analogue photography, black-and-white darkroom printing, film production stills, fashion photography assistance and commercial photography in Munich. I later developed my practice largely through self-education and work in different fields.

For a few years I focused on book-cover imagery, particularly crime and thriller aesthetics, while scouting my models outdoors and developing photographic material concerned with the collective unconscious. This period became an important bridge towards my later exploration of digital and imaginative image-making.It was like stepping out of a darker chapter into light and color creating in a flow something entirely new and 'eye-some' to me.

My work has been exhibited, published and presented internationally, including through Henry Boxer Gallery in London, Shrine's The Empty Gallery in New York, the Computer Arts Society, Zoom International Magazine in Italy, and at wise.art platform in Geneva for some portfolio building and an idea about philanthropy.


────୨ৎ──── Self-photo 2026


As a german native I have to use ChatGPT to get some structure in; using AI as a tool to build the skeleton, a tool for clarity and accessibility and then coming in to add my own voice, tone, and authentic perspective as knowing what is true, during the proofreading phase is for me the only way to create this content or text.I speak english all my life yet writing long 'episodes' isn't my top skill.

────୨ৎ────

WIZARD MASK Rare Digital Art (2016-2020) pre-AI-gen artist process TIF / 55 x 41,36 cm at 300 dpi Photoshop CS6 13.0 When photo editing mirrors the darkroom, and the invisible is made visible, photography breaks free from mere documentation to become a poetic medium in an experimental and innovative spirit.The whole process was also part of A MOVIMENTO study, on a labtop while practising less sitting and more movement envisioning multiple possible futures; this way I was celebrating human creativity serving as a rehearsal for what may or may not arrive. Artist Process — Pre-AI Digital and Beyond Life is not about finding yourself, but about creating yourself.This flow process turned me into a digital artist after photography; ''t’s another version of an old gatekeeping argument about purity, authenticity, and technical mastery to state that artworks that involve writing computer code qualify as “digital art” while artworks created using Photoshop or other media applications do not''_ Dr. Lev Manovich I am a largely self-taught visionary photographer and solo digital artist based in Germany, working across photography, drawing, painting, digital processes and, since 2023, AI-assisted image making. My practice explores perception, transformation, and the space between conscious, unconscious and collective imagination. After working in analogue photography, film production stills, fashion and commercial photography, I eventually concentrated on book-cover imagery, particularly crime and thriller aesthetics. Around the time I left that field, and following the deaths of my parents, I began moving towards a new medium. From 2000 onward I had been working with digital imagery and have used earwax ( a bit like autism since London) ; this way I could expand the necessary silence out of which creation arises, undisturbed, creating out of being, the source connection.During a shutdown the brain is sorting through an overload of sensory data. This is the processing that fuels artistic and musical creativity. The universe creates through silence, flowing from absolute stillness into form. Between 2016 and 2020, I developed an entirely human-made, intuitive generative process using deliberately blurred photographs of nature, GREEN as raw material.The idea for this was a light bulb moment,I could see with the eye of my mind how to begin. I would continue working on a piece until new imaginative forms emerged.In Photoshop, I treated pixels almost as physical matter.It is called destructive photo editing.Photo-editing software “non-destructive” tools are built around flexibility and revision-driven workflows, often shaped by commercial and client-based demands. While practical, this approach can sometimes feel overly controlled or creatively limiting.By contrast, “destructive” editing embraces a more instinctive and organic process leading to distinctive, unrepeatable textures and a more authentic visual language through photo editing. Through distortion, layering, fragmentation, accumulation, erasure and spontaneous gestures, I repeatedly dismantled and rebuilt the image.Stripping away familiar forms in order to discover something that was not visible before.I was not simply correcting or enhancing a photograph; I was sculpting it. The original photograph became a kind of raw substance from which another visual reality could emerge.Creating from formless photo pixel content was akin to painting onto a blank canvas.It felt like creating in a flow out of my own essence, Being, the formless universal dimension (screen as canvas). The purpose of creating art out of the formless is to give form to that which is resting in the formless, allowing the unmanifested consciousness to come into the world of form'' ''As long as you go within, and give form to that which is resting in the formless, be used by it — so that through you it can come into this world of form''._Eckhart Tolle; The medium does not matter. This is how discovering it felt to me.When the formless dimension of Being plays with the physical world, it creates the ultimate game of cosmic hide-and-seek. Form is how the universe expresses its creativity, textures, and humor, one can be a medium for this. This process, exemplified by _Wizard Mask_, became a personal visual language based on imagination, intuition, chance and transformation. Its beauty lies not only in the finished image but in the process of discovery itself. Digital editing gave me a way into a new medium while remaining connected to the photographic way of seeing, making the latent visible.The possibilities emerge through transforming, interpreting, and reshaping what is already there.The creative process transforms a formless, blurred digital image of the outdoors into new imaginative forms. By working with the image’s ambiguity and limitations, one may engage with both obstacles and possibilities. Through this transformation, art becomes a space where potential forms and alternative ways of seeing can be explored and emotionally experienced. ''AI did not create my artistic method. it became a later tool within an already-developed human generative practice.I was bringing my own vision in instead of letting an AI dictate the pixels.'' ────୨ৎ──── Background I was born into the sixties in Germany. My father was a filmmaker and screenwriter at a time of typewriters; my mother oppressed and sometimes luminous,both of them were abusive and suffering from their traumas however of course also had their positive traits. Their lives, and my own early experiences, contributed to an understanding of resilience and renewal that later became embedded in my artistic practice. The foundation of my practice is photography. After a decade devoted to analogue photography and darkroom work, I underwent a radical personal transformation around the age of thirty. In 1990, after a period of personal upheaval and wicked circumstances I destroyed all my photographic analogue work before a spontaneous sudden Kundalini was rising, often personified as the divine feminine or "Mother of the Universe". When this life-force energy activates the nervous system, it unplugs the consciousness from old conditioning, creating a phase of purification.This can trigger a disorienting identity crisis as the ego's grip thins.As the fire burns away the fragmented, conditioned self, identification shifts from the lower personality to the Higher Self (I am presence),this was my beginning journey of individuation. This process of destruction of the old was already something I knew,it served as a primary driver for creation, a rebirth.I did not study art-history however based on self-interest since early years and within the last years online especially. '' Disaster and trauma frequently act as powerful muses, compelling artists to process collective or personal catastrophe through their work.The creative process itself is often viewed as an act of creative destruction, where established norms, self-doubt, or previous works must be dismantled to make way for genuine innovation.The creative process in art often follows a recurring behavioral and psychological pattern, even though every artist's journey is unique.'' __quote Once there was a trauma however it was healed thus I am not trying to sell a trauma or curate pain.I am merely mentioning it to share making it conscious. My formal photographic training included one year at a private photography school, followed by extensive self-directed study. My background includes analogue photography, black-and-white darkroom printing, film production stills, fashion photography assistance and commercial photography in Munich. I later developed my practice largely through self-education and work in different fields. For a few years I focused on book-cover imagery, particularly crime and thriller aesthetics, while scouting my models outdoors and developing photographic material concerned with the collective unconscious. This period became an important bridge towards my later exploration of digital and imaginative image-making.It was like stepping out of a darker chapter into light and color creating in a flow something entirely new and 'eye-some' to me. My work has been exhibited, published and presented internationally, including through Henry Boxer Gallery in London, Shrine's The Empty Gallery in New York, the Computer Arts Society, Zoom International Magazine in Italy, and at wise.art platform in Geneva for some portfolio building and an idea about philanthropy. ────୨ৎ──── Self-photo 2026 As a german native I have to use ChatGPT to get some structure in; using AI as a tool to build the skeleton, a tool for clarity and accessibility and then coming in to add my own voice, tone, and authentic perspective as knowing what is true, during the proofreading phase is for me the only way to create this content or text.I speak english all my life yet writing long 'episodes' isn't my top skill. ────୨ৎ────