Inside Richard Conti's Modular Imagination:  How AMAC Boxes, Structure, and Technology Refame the Image.

The impulse to frame memory, to bring structure to sentiment, runs deep in Miami-based artist Richard Conti. What began as a personal gesture, organizing photographs of family and travels into a shifting visual archive, evolved into a deeper investigation of how technology and spatial design can expand the boundaries of traditional photography. As his work progressed, it became less about documentation and more about discovery.  

Originally from Venezuela, Conti brings more than two decades of experience in advertising and publishing to sculptural works that blur the line between image and object. His layered compositions draw on personal narrative, digital aesthetics, and a deep fascination with form, exploring the fluid relationship between imagery and space.

Conti’s standout series, including 8-Bit World, Geometry of Life, and BitPunks, reveals a mind in constant evolution, experimenting with structure, technology, and the intersection of photography and spatial design.

I started experimenting with this basic idea and tried to figure out how to transform it. One challenge was how to make the work mobile, and another was how to take it to another level. At that time, I was also intrigued by the images on your iPad and phone; they are backlit, like a TV screen. I had some LED lights that I put behind the boxes, and that’s how I started.

I created my first series about Miami and had my first exhibition in 2015. The piece Hashtag Miami is 8 feet long and is a collection of the activities, places, and landmarks of the city. From a distance, it forms a bold geometric shape, but as you move in, you start to see the individual photographs and details. That idea, of something looking one way from afar and revealing something else up close, carried into my Geometry of Life series. In those pieces, you’ll see shapes like circles, triangles, or squares from a distance, and as you approach, they resolve into hundreds of photographs I’ve taken, each one chosen for its connection to that form.

That’s the reaction I get from people when they see those particular pieces. They’re 40 by 40 inches and include 225 AMAC boxes, each with a different image. The concept behind the work is that when you look at everyday objects from different perspectives and angles, you begin to see geometric forms, alternate points of view, and meanings that go beyond the literal.

Yes, you could say that. I’ve asked gallery owners and critics what category my work falls into because I use photography, LED lights, color, and mirrors; sculpture comes up, but I think it’s hard to define.