Man Leaves Behind 20 Year Career in Finance & Becomes a Digital Artist

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Surreal Digital Art by Hansruedi Hamsauer

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When Hansruedi Ramsauer left behind a 20-year career in finance to start his own web design company, he never could have imagined where it would lead him. After mastering Photoshop, he let his creativity take over and has become a well-regarded digital artist with a large following on Instagram. From cityscapes that seem ripped from Inception to surreal compositions combining people and nature, his photo manipulations are expertly blended and full of detail.

Initially, Ramsauer was inspired by the images he saw on Unsplash and Instagram. This led to experimentation and an addiction to creating unique compositions from the imagery he collects. In fact, while he sometimes has a specific idea in mind and seeks out photographs to fulfill that idea, more often than not his imagination leads him to a different result. “I love to look at photos and imagine what I could do with them,” he tells My Modern Met.

Ramsauer’s work seems particularly driven by two contrasting forces—the urban landscape and nature. In some images, bustling city streets are dropped into puddles. In other cases, a suspended bridge leads right into the side of a mountain. And, when humans are present, they either dominate the frame or are dwarfed by their environment. It’s these contrasts that make his digital manipulations visually striking.

In a way, Ramsauer’s work is an extension of Surrealism, where the unconscious mind was responsible for creation. Similarly, as the Swiss artist flips through photographs, he lets himself be led by where his creativity takes him, leaving himself open to any end result. This makes his process varied. At times, an edit can take less than an hour and become his favorite. In other instances, he can labor for hours or days and come away with nothing—it’s all part of his creative flow.

This openness to going where the work takes him is perhaps owed to his personal philosophy that perspective is everything. “When you have a negative perspective on something, you can’t probably change the ‘something’ but you can question your negative perspective,” he tells My Modern Met. “The perspective is always part of the problem and will always be part of the solution. That’s why I like to play with perspectives in my work.”

If you like what you see, Ramsauer has prints, t-shirts, and much more available at Redbubble.