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Cory Haber, SOL - 365. SOL #203, October 2022. Short-Form Generative Art.
Cory Haber's generative painting style caught my eye a few months ago. It was an enticing intersection of plotter art, colourful palettes, and generative art making methods.
The SOL series was love at first sight. Each output is assigned a day of the year, location, and time, among other things. This particular output depicts the sunrise in Casablanca, Morocco, in July next year. The colours remind me of Monet's lillies.
conundrumer, Pseudofigure. Pseudofigure #83, November 2022. Long Form Generative Art/Plottable.
I enjoy these pieces from plottables for a few reasons:
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Even though these collections are powered by the ArtBlocks engine, they are much more accessible price-wise for collectors. And the mints, for the moment, stay open for longer. No bots.
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Plottable art is a fun and DIY-friendly way of engaging with the creative process. It is present, visceral, and perhaps a Generative Art equivalent of the , which encouraged hobbyist engagement with technology back in the 1970's.
Harvey Rayner, Photon's Dream. Photon's Dream #135, July 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
Photon's Dream initially jumped out at me because I was contemplating the curious nature of the Double-slit experiment and how Quantum mechanics can teach us things about our reality. Our "constants" such as time and distance get... reinterpreted.
Rayner knows and grapples with this in his work. and I see this series as being an important precursor to his breakthrough collection, Fontana.
I realised quickly that the "single" composition outputs were my favourite, aesthetically. So I hammered the minter until I got one. On the tenth try, I was rewarded for my persistence.
Harvey Rayner, Fontana. Fontana #143, October 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
In the artist's words, Fontana is "an attempt at capturing the flowing movement of a fountain". Water flows, cascades, and springs forth.
I was catching up with an old friend the evening the collection launched, and so missed the initial mint. After weeks of playing catch up, I acquired #143. Whilst it goes against the theme of water, to me this output conjures a firework in the sky.
This collection is notable for its approach to colour. Instead of selecting from a pre-defined palette of options, Rayner embraces the medium, allowing Fontana's colours to be part of the generative process.
Tezumie, Entangled. Entangled #100, September 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
These are a beautiful and accessible collection, that riffs on the well established aesthetic of French artist, Zancan.
Tezumie adds their own touch, with vibrant colour palettes that give some of the outputs a surreal and vaporwave-like look. "Soft RGB" and "Picnic" in particular stand out to me.
Aaron Penne & FingerprintsDAO, Within/Without. Within/Without #58, March 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
A line can be drawn, starting with Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawings, passing via Larva Labs’ Autoglyphs, and finishing at Aaron Penne’s Within/Without series. These glyphs change in colour and composition over time when viewed live, creating a meditative experience for the viewer.
0xDEAFBEEF, First First NFTs. First NFT #1987, September 2021. Satirical Generative Text.
0xDEAFBEEF is one of the OGs of the cryptoart world. I recently learned he helped write the cryptopunks contract.
I assume this experience has left them with an overview of the good, bad, and ugly parts of NFT markets. Some of the ugly being cashgrab projects promoting the fact they were "first" at something irrelevant to attract speculators.
The series pokes fun at this, simultaneously capturing a moment in the NFT zeitgeist whilst making stark the absurdity of the manipulation.
The artist made nothing from releasing this work, as all proceeds from primary sales and royalties on secondary sales are donated to GiveDirectly.org.
Bart Simons, Getijde. Getijde #164, December 2021. Long Form Generative Art.
Getijde is the dutch word for 'Tide'. This series is a low key favourite of mine, and one of the Art Blocks releases that isn't from the Curated collection that I think will stand the test of time (alongside other classics like Automatism).
The algoritm depicts seascapes in a modernised ukiyo-e style. There are many great palettes, but the rainbow "Wadden" one is my favourite.
Phaust, Pointila. Pointila #112, September 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
Phaust's depictions of landscapes, eclipses, and moonrises are an exploration into what happens when pointillistic painting techniques collide with the channelled randomness of generative art.
When you think about it, Isn't all digital art pointillistic? Being made up of pixels, the dots have just become too small for the eye to see.
Each output from this series has two colour palettes - click the piece in a live view watch the colours change.
Shvembldr, 444(4). 444(4) #94, October 2021. Long Form Generative Art.
I don't know why these pieces don't get more attention. They capture something visceral about generative art as a process, because each piece is itself an effectively infinite artwork.
How? In the artists words: "each instance of this project is an infinite deterministic ratio and resolution agnostic art generator. Every click = new art."
mpkoz, Parnassus. Parnassus #3, April 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
Parnassus is an homage to one of my favourite painters, the Swiss/German master Paul Klee.
Klee was known for experimenting widely with composition, line, and colour, approaching his creative process not in a way dissimilar to a programmer would today. Parnassus is a beautiful celebration of this heritage.
berk.eth, BASTARD GAN PUNKS V2. BASTARD GAN PUNK V2 #10854, June 2021. PFP Collectible.
We're back with an even more bastardly GAN incarnation of my online avatar. If CryptoPunk #4523 is me by day, and Bastard #4948 is me in the evening, then #10854 is me at 3am.
The "egg carton" glitch background, flouro hair, smirk, and the chain, say it all. If you find my earring, please get in touch.
Ryan Struhl, Letters to My Future Self. Letters to My Future Self #751, October 2021. Long Form Generative Art.
Anyone who has a journal knows that a conflict emerges when writing. Do I lay everything on the page? Or do I self censor, even in my most private space? We know that our journals and letters are a dialogue with our past and future selves, separated by time. Ryan Struhl obviously gets this.
I've arrived at an admission this even in my most personal place, erasing, redacting, may have a place. It is a way to forget, and let go.
I am fond of this particular output because it has the "shape-in" censor mode, which forms a circular mass of black and yellow on the page.
fingacode, translucent panes. translucent panes #133, July 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
This series was an open-edition presented by Bright Moments, available for mint only in person at their galleries at 13 Soho Square and 18 Albemarle in London over July 2021. I sadly didn't know about it at time time, so purchased my pieces on secondary.
fingacode has gone on to create great work, most notably with his series "nth culture", released a few weeks ago.
Matty Mariansky, Para Bellum. Para Bellum #816, February 2022. Long Form Generative Art.
Matty Mariansky's Para Bellum series pits generated words against colours and shapes in a fight for space. The outputs are varied, with the polaroid format pieces achieving what I feel is a balanced composition. They remind me of exhibition posters.
#816 is special to me because it resembles Mark Rothko's Orange, Red, and Yellow works from the 50's and 60's.
Collector's Notes, Volume 3. November 2022
Fin. Volume 4 coming soon.