Troy Abbott (b. 1967) is an American multidisciplinary artist working in digital media. He earned a BFA in drawing from the University of Florida in 1990 but gravitated toward digital art. In 2002 he made his first birdcage, inspired by the film "Blade Runner," in which humans and machines coexist and become almost interchangeable. From 2006 he devoted himself fully to the series, giving up his job running a nightclub in Fort Lauderdale. He scours thrift stores and vintage shops for antique cages with personality and combines them with recycled technology, placing small screens inside that play video of real birds, which perch with only an occasional movement. Though the cage doors stand open, the birds never leave, a meditation on freedom. In later works he exposes the circuitry that gives the birds life, deepening a subtle commentary on the nature of reality.
