Rafaël Rozendaal (born 1980) is a Dutch-Brazilian visual artist known for using the internet as his primary artistic medium, creating abstract, interactive websites that function as artworks. His practice spans net art, installation, weaving, and print, often translating the visual language of the web into physical forms. He is a pioneering figure in internet art, recognized for developing a legal framework for selling websites as artworks and exhibiting internationally at institutions and art fairs.
Artists in conversation
Cory Arcangel
Arcangel similarly uses digital and internet based media to create playful, conceptually driven artworks that blur the line between pop culture and fine art. Both artists treat software and web technologies as primary artistic materials with a light aesthetic sensibility.
Casey Reas
Reas creates abstract generative artworks using code that share Rozendaal's commitment to algorithmic aesthetics and the translation of computational processes into visual art. Both artists work at the intersection of software, abstraction, and formal elegance.
Artists who inspired them
Sol LeWitt
LeWitt's conceptual and instructional approach to art making, where the idea and system generate the visual output, deeply informs Rozendaal's use of algorithms and rules to produce abstract interactive works. His reduction of form to clean geometric logic resonates throughout Rozendaal's visual language.
Ellsworth Kelly
Kelly's bold use of flat color, hard edge abstraction, and simplified form is a clear visual antecedent to Rozendaal's web based aesthetic of vivid gradients and clean geometric compositions. Rozendaal has cited the tradition of American color field painting as a key reference point.
Nam June Paik
Paik pioneered the use of electronic media and technology as a fine art medium, establishing a precedent that Rozendaal directly extends into the internet era. His conceptual framing of new broadcast technologies as legitimate artistic spaces parallels Rozendaal's treatment of websites as artworks.