Contemporary Art by R. Schofield
Digitally Altered Photographs
Welcome
Take your time exploring the artwork.
I hope you enjoy this view into my reality.
About the work
Artist's Statement
In today's world, photography has become inseparable from our daily experience—nearly everyone carries a camera, and the images we capture are continuously shared across global platforms. As an artist, I embrace the power to transform this collective reality into personal fantasy. Through photo-editing software, I reimagine fleeting moments into timeless visions.
This digital realm, composed of countless pixels, reveals a striking purity when expanded to large-scale dimensions such as 52" x 78". The textures, tonal values, colors, and lines—unique to the digital medium—are constructed from minuscule squares, even finer than the tesserae of ancient mosaics. I find this pixelated architecture endlessly captivating.
Digital tools offer an expansive palette of possibilities, allowing me to manipulate and combine elements into imagery that is both surreal and richly layered. My creative process thrives on spontaneity—what is called the “happy accident”—which ensures each exploration remains fresh, unpredictable, and alive.
I do not produce editions. To preserve the singularity of each piece, I delete all high-resolution files once a work is sold, retaining only low-quality versions. This practice reinforces the uniqueness of each image, imbuing my digitally altered photographs with the aura and authenticity of Fine Art paintings.
Technique
Starting with everyday photos, Schofield transforms each image in her own unique way, taking them from the familiar to deeply personal works of art. Her inspiration comes from all sorts of places: travel photos, snapshots from social events, photojournalism from her time at a local newspaper, her own paintings, and even pictures of documents. Through careful edits and layers, she turns each photo into something completely new.
The digital worlds she creates have a feeling of both being right here and now, as well as timeless—modern in technique yet still reflecting traditional art forms. Her technique seeks toward a painterly, fantasy-like quality, showing off her artistic sense of color, line, depth, and texture. Starting with simple photos, Schofield gradually shapes them until they reflect her own vision.
Biography
Schofield earned an MFA in Painting and Photography in 1979 from the University of South Florida. Since then, she has exhibited her work all over the US in solo and group shows, appeared in international magazines, and had a 2-person show in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Her work was included in “The Heroic and Sublime: Large-Scale Work by Contemporary Women Artists” at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, FL and in “Peoples Choice” exhibition at the Polk Museum of Art, and was included in a seminal 3-person exhibition “130 Years: Lynn Fostkett / Leslie Neumann / Roberta Schofield” at Gallery 221 at Hillsborough Community College. She has held faculty appointments at the University of South Florida, South Florida Junior College, the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, and at St. Petersburg Junior College, and has lectured extensively. Schofield’s digitally altered photographs have won many awards and her biography is in Who’s Who in American Art and Who’s Who in America.