About

With a career spanning over 25 years working in the fashion industry, photographer Victor Sanabrais has amassed quite a collection of images. Some of his art collection pieces are actually the results of hard drive failure. These fine art print and digital media images are referred to as “glitch art.” These glitches occurred while traveling around the world, working with clients on different continents, all while having to work off of a lap top with several back up hard drives for storage. With so many megabytes of data flowing to and from the computer, there is always the risk of a data mishap to occur. Sometimes these mishaps offer up some interesting imagery.

Glitch art is a contemporary artistic movement that embraces digital errors and glitches as a creative medium. Its roots can be traced back to the early days of video and computer technology in the late 20th century. Artists began exploring the unexpected visual effects that occurred when digital systems malfunctioned or were intentionally manipulated. This included corrupted data files, signal interference, and hardware failures that produced abstract, fragmented, and distorted imagery.

In the 1960s and 1970s, early experimental artists started using analog glitches from video feedback and circuit bending. The rise of personal computers and digital imaging in the 1980s and 1990s expanded possibilities for glitch manipulation. Artists used software bugs, compression artifacts, and code errors to create artwork that highlighted the imperfections embedded within digital systems. These techniques challenged traditional aesthetics and questioned the notion of perfection in digital media.

The internet and open-source culture further accelerated glitch art's development. Platforms for sharing code and digital manipulation tools enabled a community of practitioners who pushed the boundaries of glitch aesthetics. By the 2000s, glitch art began gaining recognition beyond underground and experimental circles, appearing in galleries, music videos, fashion, and advertising.

Entering the 2010s and beyond, glitch art found a foothold within mainstream art due to growing interest in digital culture, technology, and new media art. Museums and galleries started incorporating glitch art exhibits to reflect contemporary concerns about the fragility and unpredictability of digital life. The rise of NFTs and blockchain technology also provided a new market for glitch artists, legitimizing the form financially and culturally.

Today, glitch art occupies a unique space that bridges technology, visual art, and cultural critique. It stands as both a reflection on the limitations of digital media and a celebration of unexpected beauty found in errors. This historical progression from experimental origins to prominent artistic practice illustrates how glitch art has evolved into an influential genre within the mainstream art world.

One day, after a shoot, Victor was in the middle of backing up some files that were to be used for a lingerie catalog. These layered print files, took a long time to upload, and he didn’t want to miss the big company dinner going on that night. In a rush, he pulled the wrong cable from his Mac Book Pro, and realized that he had messed up the connection to the external hard drive. Oops!

The next morning he fired up the computer, reconnected the hard drive and saw there was several corrupted files. Some of these files were able to open in Photoshop, and the results caught Victor’s eye. He had discovered some amazing glitch art images that would later be used for his fine art metal prints.

These one of a kind images inspired Victor to create more glitch art pieces with his photography. Each one is a fashion photography inspired, figure study, layered image, with mixed color transitions that when printed on metal gives them a unique appearance.

See the Glitch Girl Collection by Victor Sanabrais Photographer.