Originally posted on Substack
Never stop dreaming.. - Roy T. Bennett
Good morning my friends!
I hope you are finding amazing inspiration in the interesting stuff that you have been working on.
First up: Content these days take longer to curate because its a niche space so I’d love for anyone to send me interesting generative/ creative works that they have created or inspired by.
I’ve also been spending a good deal of time trying a bunch different things that I have been releasing fewer newsletters. But this is part of my process, once I feel that I’ve been filled up, then I can continue to produce at a much quicker pace. But until then here are some great reads that I’ve found to be inspiring in the past month.
- The $12 Million Stuffed Shark - Donald Thompson - finished this a month ago or so but it really gave me an interesting insight into the contemporary art word and gave me a little more understanding as to the practices of the NFT space
- Sharing Code - Patrick Frank and Joseph Traugott - Just a great historical context of the users of Art1 (early framework like Processing) and then a look into the practice and methodologies of the artists
- Nature’s Palette - Patrick Baty - I’m a huge color nerd, I love taking a color pencil set and then sorting the colors in a way that was aesthetically pleasing and so this book as a beautiful color reference inspiration brings much enjoyment.
- Art in Theory - An Anthology of Changing Ideas - This has just been an interesting read as I continue to skill up on context and and what does critique look like in a public forum and how might it be properly applied in generative art. Its been a question rolling through my head and the heads of others in the space and I want to make sure that we really understand it before we go about doing something as though there are “experts”
- When the Machine Made Art - This was just a great reminder of the history of machine art since the 60’s in general. I love to be on the bleeding edge and so seeing such a new medium completely ignored hurts. Yet, it is always good to be reminded that not everyone is going to be there and that is ok. At the end of the day its about innovating, exploring, and creating something that is meaningful with the understanding the majority and established won’t be there yet for many different reasons.
- Ex Machina - Frühe Computegrafik bis 1979 - All I can say is that I want to be like Herbert Franke when I grow up. The book is just full of early images of artists, and writings about and around the work of Herbert Franke.
On top of that I’ve been playing around with NFTs, digging into the details of the smart contracts to better understand their mechanisms and working on generative 3D models that can be printed on a 3D printer. There is definitely an art to the physical aspect and just putting some time in there to better understand.
Anyways, hope these are useful rabbit holes for you as they have been for myself. If I don’t get to say it for you folks here in the States, Happy Thanksgiving!
Cheers!
Chris Ried
Artist Highlights
Claire Silver
Here is an AI artist / oil painter who explores some of the deeper questions of life such as “What is the role of trauma in the human experience?” or “Who are we without ever tasting it?”. In these collections, the titles pave a path to answer such questions as she explores the mind of the machine melded with her conscience self. But even in the more philosophical works, there are elements of humor and imagination such as her work, “the girl meets the man in the monkey mask”
the girl meets the man in the monkey mask - 2020
Sainthood - 2020
Digital Twin - 2020
There is a cohesiveness on her entire body of work that is on the darker side, yet there are times when a few on the lighter side but still have the question of life and it’s cruelty embodied in the work.
She also has a larger series she has down with Braindrops.cloud, a new NFT platform for deep learning artists if you want to check it out. She also has a bunch of her links in her linktree in which you will find more about her work.
Vera Molnár + early digital art’s influence on generative art today
To some, the world of generative art and NFTs appears to have skyrocketed into the mainstream out of nowhere. Connoisseurs know, computer art has been a practice extending much further back than the 21st century.
Vera Molnár, a pioneer of computer and generative art, started working with algorithmic paintings in 1968 and is one of the first women to use computers in her practice. Her influence can be seen within generative crypto art today.
In this webinar we will speak to Anne and Michael Spalter, renowned collectors of early digital art, Zsofia Valyi-Nagy, whose PhD research is centred around Molnar’s work, and art advisor Georg Bak. The discussion will focus around Molnar’s influence on the digital art of today, only a few months before she celebrates her 98th birthday.
Note: You will need to register to see the webinar but I think it is well worth the time to watch and really gives some great context on the practice of Vera Molnar and then how the work that she has created inspired a number of next generation artists.
🖌️ Unconventional Media
The Robot Catapult That Flings Paint
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Using engineering to create art! Instead of painting my own paintings, I decided to build a robot to do it for me. Obviously, a robot that throws paint at a canvas via a servo powered catapult was the only way to go here…
I decided to call this robot ‘Flingbot’.
To my surprise, it actually worked! Flingbot created paintings that far exceeded my own personal ability to paint (This was the main reason for my Engineering degree, right?). Using some randomized Arduino code that picks from a plethora of different parameters, Flingbot’s paintings are truly one of a kind. Based on the parameters and some basic combination math, I estimated that Flingbot is capable of 3 trillion different painting possibilities (the number is likely higher due to variables out of Flingbot’s control)
📸 Generative Graphics
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This video was made for The Summer of Math Exposition. It’s about the spirograph and the math of the spirals it creates.
As a kid, I loved making them, as an adult, I love making them even if it isn’t on paper anymore. What can I say.
Rhythm and Geometry: Constructivist Art in Britain since 1951
There is some compelling work here, but this could have been a chance to see a century of revolution in art, science and technology from the 1920s to the present, so neglecting the pre-1950 period seems a shame
🔖 Articles and Tutorials
Exquisitely Cut Paper Sculptures by Rogan Brown Highlight the Effects of Coral Bleaching
“The coral reef is a microcosm of a macrocosm,” says paper artist Rogan Brown. “What is happening to the reefs today will ultimately happen to the planet tomorrow unless action is taken.” Through new paper sculptures comprised of delicately fringed sea creatures, Brown (previously) creates a striking visual display of the disastrous impacts of the climate crisis on marine life, showing how issues like coral bleaching can radiate outward into the wider world.
The above link is not necessarily generative but there are many elements that could be generative that I find incredibly meticulous and satisfying from an aesthetic perspective and one of my favorite features of nature. Its all generative!
4-kilobyte demo squeezes a universe of fractals
“Hartverdrahtet” is the worthy winner of Assembly 2012’s 4k demo competition, rendering a procedurally-generated universe of fractal landscapes using a file the size of your average Word document
The demoscene is an interesting subculture that without most people realizing it is a very forward thinking group of people that I encourage to take the opportunity to read about. One of the most recent curated drops by Piter Pasma who was an active participant in the scene of the time.
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In this video we complete the Phong lighting model by implementing specular lighting.
Understanding Fluid Simulation
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This is the first part in a series about Computational Fluid Dynamics where we build a Fluid Simulator from scratch.
We highlight the Microscopic Perspective on Quantum Mechanics, Molecular Dynamics, and the Kinetic Theory of Gases that underlies and justifies Fluid Simulation Formulations in the first place.
The Robot Catapult That Flings Paint
{{ youtube 9XyE41_ANrc }}
Using engineering to create art! Instead of painting my own paintings, I decided to build a robot to do it for me. Obviously, a robot that throws paint at a canvas via a servo powered catapult was the only way to go here…
I decided to call this robot ‘Flingbot’.
To my surprise, it actually worked! Flingbot created paintings that far exceeded my own personal ability to paint (This was the main reason for my Engineering degree, right?). Using some randomized Arduino code that picks from a plethora of different parameters, Flingbot’s paintings are truly one of a kind. Based on the parameters and some basic combination math, I estimated that Flingbot is capable of 3 trillion different painting possibilities (the number is likely higher due to variables out of Flingbot’s control)