Nightmare
Jiatao Xu
Artist statement: "It's a miserable and melancholy city, and we are at the very bottom of
the food chain - the lower city. Massive capsule-like housing complexes provide the minimal
needs for human survival. Every day waking up in an unmaintained megastructure, lungs full
of rust. Here, human labor is the cheapest commodity, thanks to overpopulation. Living under
mass surveillance, the cycle of days only consists of waking up, working, going home, and
sleeping. Slaving away to provide luxury to those in the upper city, yet themselves choking
on the stagnant, heavy air from the top.
It's a future that comes to me in a dream.
A dystopian I don't want to live in."
Biography
Jiatao Xu is an American-based Chinese digital artist who works in character design and world-building. His preferred mediums include digital illustration and 3D modeling. Jiatao’s works are mostly inspired by global events and personal philosophy, exploring the world of post-contemporary society through hard science fiction. Besides that, he also dabbles in AI art, 3D printing, and code art. Jiatao is fluent in digital illustration with Clip Studio Paint and Adobe Illustrator, pen and pencil drawing, 3D modeling with Blender, and Video editing/animation in Adobe Premiere and After Effects. He’s currently enrolled in the Digital Media Art, BFA program at San Jose State University. He worked as a student assistant at CADRE Open Lab, helping DMA students with their projects. He also designed and curated window posters for classrooms in the Art Building
