Monica Rizzolli is an artist-programmer, who studied at the Institute of Arts at UNESP and at Kunsthochschule Kassel (Germany). She has participated in international projects such as MAK Center Artists and Architects (USA), Creatives in Residence (China), Sweet Home (Spain) and A.I.R. DRAWinternational (France). I had the pleasure of speaking with Monica about her journey into generative art and her desire to connect programming with the natural world ahead of her project release Fragments of an Infinite Field.

Jeff Davis: Hi Monica! It’s great to speak with you and get to know more about your background. How did you first get into making art?

Monica Rizzolli: My grandfather had a letterpress print shop, and since I was little, I was interested in printing methods. At the age of 14, I started studying woodcuts and then lithography. I wanted to become a master printer and that's why I went to study at the University of Fine Arts. Drawing became my main interest at university and remains so today.

JD: So there was obviously a transition then where you started exploring digital techniques. When did you start experimenting with generative art? 

MR: In the beginning, my main interest was to represent/mimic the landscape. Then I became interested in how the landscape changes in relation to our perception of space. In 2012, while I was studying drawing at Kunsthochschule Kassel, I wanted to draw landscapes that changed over time, where things happened unpredictably and without simple repetition. First, I thought about making animations, but then I discovered Processing, and realized that programming was exactly what I needed to create the drawings and landscapes I envisioned. Now I'm interested in how to simulate and create artificial landscapes based on natural principles.

JD: Then how did you discover NFTs / crypto art?

MR: After returning to Brazil in 2016, I co-organized the “Noite de Processing” monthly creative programming event. I am also a co-organizer of Processing Community Day Brazil. In that context, I got to learn about NFTs. With Nino Arteiro, a pioneer of crypto art in Brazil, I learned how to make a contract ERC-721 and publish it to a blockchain. After that, Tony de Marco showed me the Autoglyphs from Larva Labs, and I glimpsed the potential of blockchain-linked generative art.

JD: That’s great that you’ve been so involved with the gen art and crypto art community over the years. Any recent accomplishments you’d like to share?

MR: In 2017, I developed a script for the Revista Amarello of contemporary culture. I also received the MAK Schindler Scholarship (MAK Vienna), and during my residency in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to produce my first exhibition featuring a self-generating computer simulation. Over the last few years, I've started to learn type design, drawing glyphs, and programming OpenType features. “Tomorrow”, my first typeface drawn with Tony de Marco, is in the Google Fonts collection. This year, we launched the “Just Pixo” typeface inspired by Brazilian “pixação” by type foundry Latinotype. We also created “Contrast”, a studio to explore modular alphabets and programming to generate design solutions. With this method, we created 400 unique generative covers of Tupigrafia magazine. This project won the Top Award Fedrigoni in the publishing category for 2021.

JD: Wow, that’s an amazing list of wide-ranging accomplishments! Alright, let’s get into your Art Blocks project. What was the inspiration for Fragments of an Infinite Field? And what should collectors look for as the series is revealed?

MR: The inspiration for the project is plants and their relationship with the environment. I’d like for collectors to look for several different things. The seasons along the time and how the colors behave in each of them. The movement of foliage and how it grows in space. The characteristics of flowers, their similarities, and subtle differences. How the relationship between all the elements create a unique landscape. The visual confusion generated by the rain. The veil created by the snow. The fallen petals and the hidden flowers. And to overall contemplate and observe the landscape.

JD: Anything else you’d like to share about your artistic practice?

MR: My recent production associates drawing and various types of algorithms. I draw by looking at the natural environment, reviewing traditional ways of representing and cataloging nature, associated with contemporary forms of representation that are only possible using digital tools. My interest in morphology led me to explore the intrinsic geometry of these growth processes. This interest in geometry often leads to animated visual patterns, whose loops resemble the rapport of a fabric, infinitely chained over time. The natural environment has been the theme of my artwork since the very beginning, back in 2008. In 2012, I stopped painting and started programming, and geometric patterns took over my visual work. In recent years I have united both processes and narratives.

JD: I love how well-conceived your practice is, you’ve obviously spent a lot of time considering your work and what you want to accomplish. OK last question, what is the best way for people to follow your work?

MR: You can follow me on Instagram and BitClout and visit the website for my studio “Contrast.”