A study in reduction based around several repeating elements. A unique hash string seeded within each token informs the composition of the work. Variables include the color of the background, the amount of times each of the elements are duplicated, the set distance between each duplicate, and the coordinates of each element. Each token is unique.

Elevated Deconstructions

The Caretaker awakes. After a millennia of slumber it must again usher its minions into the expanse. It must sustain. It must replenish. So it guides its horde out to the stars, visiting countless worlds to restart the cycle. For an eternity the cycle has repeated, minding and tending this garden of worlds. Now it is time for the garden to give back. This event has come to be known as *The Harvest*.

*The Harvest* depicts worlds that exist in eternal symbiosis with the Caretaker. We witness the spectacle of monumental chromatic beams as they impact the surface of these beautiful, alien bodies. The Caretaker assigns different constellations to each planet, giving rise to unique combinations of beams as they extract the much needed nectar. This project has been inspired by a life-long fascination for science fiction and space exploration. Aiming to capture a moment of awe, the beams reach to their origin, emulating a cathedral-like atmosphere in the vein of Hugh Ferriss, while borrowing inspiration from Micheal Whelan’s landscapes. All in the effort of capturing a sense of how small we are in relation to the cosmos.

*The Harvest* is built on p5js, and takes advantage of its 3d api. With the orthogonal view enabled, the algorithm uses volumetric rectangular units to create the stylised illusion of alien landscapes. Each beam has a position, color, reach and yield that is calculated and procedurally drawn over time.

The Harvest

Watercolor Dreams is an exploration in simulation, a meditation on traditional techniques in watercolor, and an ode to serendipity. Where will this curve end? When will this shade fade? How will the movement come alive? Sit back, relax, and watch the colors wash over the canvas.

Watercolor Dreams

My interpretation of Aerial View is a bird's Eye View over a city block with illuminated/twisted buildings and light trails. It uses an on-chain stored algorithm to represent the generative artwork based on a hash. Each Aerial comes with different distances, building elevations, rotations and colors. Welcome to my genesis project and the first step on my on-chain journey!

Aerial View

Ways of knowing...
Ways of seeing…

I can trace the origin of *Pre-Process* back to a Saturday afternoon in 2003 when I was sketching—first on paper, and then with code. I began by drawing circles, then connecting their center points, and then placing the circles in motion as coded animation. At that time, I was focused on *ideas* and not *images*—specifically, on dynamic systems and the ways a set of elements relate to each other within an imagined environment. I was working through questions about how to experience these systems and what might be an ideal (or interesting) way to engage with them. 

The ideas and code from this session later became the core of much of my subsequent work: including the foundation for the *Process* series of software, prints, and installations and the more recent *Process Compendium* works. *Pre-Process* pulls these origin points back into focus, develops them with what I’ve learned in the intervening years, and puts them on the blockchain to be archived. I consider the project a Rosetta Stone for my practice. It asks fundamental questions about the relationships between process and end result, including: Where is the aesthetic focus of a generative system? Is it deep within the code or within the picture the system creates?

Ultimately, *Pre-Process* emphasizes experiencing the origin of the system and then transitioning with it as it seeks, but never finds, equilibrium. The system is built around Element 1, the first that I created for the *Process* series:

*Element 1: Form 1 + Behavior 1 + Behavior 2 + Behavior 3 + Behavior 4
Form 1: Circle
Behavior 1: Move in a straight line
Behavior 2: Constrain to surface
Behavior 3: Change direction while touching another Element
Behavior 4: Move away from an overlapping Element*

*Pre-Process* is the origin of a long journey that I’m still on. It continues to ask essential questions and to encourage me to explore possibilities. Through it, I came to realize that I was ultimately more a picture-maker than a conceptual artist, or, the way I like to think about it,  I’m a “conceptual artist” with a small ‘c.’ I want the energy to be with the system (the ideas) *and* the surface (the picture) in equal measure. More directly, the work exists *between* the instructions, the performance and interpretation of the instructions, and the resulting images.

Art Blocks Curated

Elevated Deconstructions #30

luxpris

More in Art Blocks Curated

The Harvest

Per Kristian Stoveland

Watercolor Dreams

NumbersInMotion

Aerial View

daLenz

Pre-Process

Casey REAS

Art

Company

Learn