Artist Profile

Aphex Twin

Aphex Twin

Richard D. James, known as Aphex Twin, is one of the most influential figures in electronic music and a key contributor to glitch aesthetics in audiovisual art. His collaborations with director Chris Cunningham produced some of the most iconic and disturbing music videos of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Windowlicker (1999)

The “Windowlicker” video, directed by Chris Cunningham, exemplifies the unsettling fusion of electronic music and visual distortion. The video features:

  • Face-morphing effects that warp human features
  • Digital manipulation creating uncanny valley aesthetics
  • Glitchy transitions and visual artifacts
  • Surreal imagery that influenced a generation of glitch artists

Visual Legacy

Aphex Twin’s music videos pioneered techniques that became fundamental to glitch art:

“Come to Daddy” (1997) - Features disturbing face distortions, multiple cloned children with Richard’s face, and aggressive visual editing that mirrors the abrasive sound design.

“Rubber Johnny” (2005) - A collaboration with Cunningham featuring extreme body horror and night-vision distortion effects, pushing visual glitch into body horror territory.

“T69 Collapse” (2018) - Directed by Weirdcore, this video showcases modern AI-generated face glitches and datamosh-style corruption, proving Aphex Twin’s continued relevance to glitch aesthetics.

Influence on Glitch Art

Aphex Twin’s visual work influenced glitch art in several ways:

  • Face manipulation - The warped faces in his videos inspired countless glitch artists to explore facial distortion
  • Audio-visual synchronization - His videos demonstrate how glitch effects can be timed to music
  • Uncanny aesthetics - The uncomfortable, surreal quality of his visuals became a template for disturbing digital art
  • Collaboration with visual artists - His partnerships showed how musicians and visual artists can create unified glitch experiences

Resources

The visual language established by Aphex Twin and his collaborators influenced artists like:

  • Autechre - Abstract electronic music with glitch visuals
  • Squarepusher - Fellow Warp Records artist with distorted video work
  • Boards of Canada - Nostalgic, degraded analog aesthetics