*the spring begins with the first rainstorm* is my merger of earthly patterning and digital dynamics, seeing both organisms as collaborators in an effort to erase the human hand and glimpse into an environmental portal.

My inspiration comes from falling in the fountains of the Louvre as a child and sneaking past the guards to enter the glass temple dripping and squishing with each step – from Sigmar Polke’s dispersion paintings – from Joseph Beuys and Bas Jan Ader – from Aldous Huxley and John Muir – from the plentiful and the barren – from the joy of discovery and the fear of what could unravel.

I started with the pattern variable, this movement was first created by dragging large paintings through the ocean until my brushstrokes disappeared and the earth becomes the composer. The movement that emerged is akin to light fracturing through water, the bark of trees, or the skin of reptiles. When redacted into visible pixels it harkens to traditional screen-printing and a web 1.0 dream. When the patterns start multiplying, they become portals to elsewhere, while also signifying a system trying to ‘learn’ the movements of the earth. I see the ‘hibernal’ as blizzards, ‘maelstrom’ as dreams of the deep water and the ‘arboretum’ as lush gardens. The palette variable is meant to mirror lavish watercolor washes while the smokey ribboning represents the winds. In totality, I hope is to blur many lines – constructed and broken down, calming and fearsome, aspirational and apocalyptic.


*The Genesis Edition*

The first 48 mints shall receive this special edition collection, which includes:

* A unique print of the minter’s piece, printed on archival Hahnemühle German etching paper, mounted on 16” x 12” (40.6 cm x 30.5 cm) maple board, signed and titled on verso.

* A serpentine rock I collected near 34.744145603, -119.98518572 (including a maple presentation stand).

* A limited edition visual compendium chronicling the conceptual theory of the work, signed and numbered.

Please visit the [project website](https://thespringbegins.io/the-genesis-edition) for more details about the Genesis Edition.

Controls:

p - for a high resolution (6000 x 7200 pixels) printable version
s - to save the image as a png file

the spring begins with the first rainstorm

### Good job, Computer. Do that some more.

To what degree can we teach a computer to make a painting? One that resembles creation from the imperfect hand of a human. Here, the computer attempts to hide itself from the viewer in the details, such as inconsistent borders or uneven layers of paint. Intentional flaws that a human might make unintentionally.
Good, Computer is an exploration of not only how small cumulative inaccuracies create complete images, but also the forms and harmonies that those images evoke.

Consider the following:

***A set of 4 colors is to be considered -- singly as "actors," together as "cast." They are to be presented in 4 different arrangements -- as "performances."***
***Although they remain unchanged in hue and light, in "character", and appear in an unchanging outer frame, the "stage", they are to produce 4 different "scenes" or "plays," each to be so different that one and the same set of colors will be seen as 4 different sets, presented by 4 different casts.***
***And all this can be achieved mainly through changes in quantity which result in shifts of dominance, of recurrence, and consequently of placement.***
***The essential question: which group of colors is ready to lose its identity as a cast?*** 
***-- Josef Albers***

We can answer this question simply by asking ourselves why we're drawn to some arrangements more than others. In doing so, we consider not just tone, but also quantity, intensity and weight in order to form new relationships between the colours. And as such the viewer gives each image their own subjective personality.

---

Press `s` to save image.

Good, Computer

Aithérios explores the notion of ethereality as seen through the transformation of our thoughts and memories.
Thoughts that emerge from our foggy inner state coalesce and become concrete by our minds. At the same time, memories that were once so tangible to us fade into the recesses before their eventual oblivion. Thoughts and memories share an intimacy within the labyrinth of the mind, sometimes they work together to cover ground beyond the horizon of what is understandable.


Aithérios

*“As we paint we move along step by step. 
We realize that we are guided in our work by awareness of life.”* 
― Agnes Martin, 1979

Steps is an invitation to slow down in order to explore a subtler dimension of reality,
where we can transcend our human nature,
where two successive moments are never exactly the same,
where we continually feel held and supported,
and where each step, even if insignificant in appearance, can reveal unbounded peace.

**Interaction**
Click or Tap or Space key: Pause / Unpause animation

**Prints**
The first 50 editions minted will come with a free signed print of the token at the size you choose among the 3 available (8.5” x 11”, 13” x 17” or 17” x 22”).
All token holders will be able to purchase a signed print of the Steps mint they currently own. 
For non-holders, a curated selection of unsigned prints outside of the minted set will be available.
More information on prints can be found [here](https://johan.studio/work/steps-prints).

**Thanks**
To my dear mother Colette, for taking me to art exhibitions at a young age and developing my enthusiasm & curiosity for visual art.
To my friend Patricio, for sharing his talent, experience and knowledge with such generosity.
To the Art Blocks team, for believing in this project and creating community & opportunities for artists.

Steps

How can intent be communicated when ideas are filtered through a pseudorandom number generator? Simply looking at the output does not make it clear whether a stroke is placed on the canvas because of a decision by the artist or by a roll of the dice. The artist’s hand is more present in the process than the result; they choose the algorithms, tune the parameters, and prune the features. As I experimented with my code, I held a particular idea in mind, but I was uncertain how it would finally manifest. I pursued a visual composition that made me feel a certain way, and the visuals I landed on communicate my feeling better than anything I can put into words. Through Curved Air is about the challenge of communication. Regardless of the medium, I can never be certain that the message I intend to send is the message that is received.

Through Curved Air takes inspiration from musical minimalism, where repetition is used to highlight changes in rhythm and harmony. Every output is created by repeatedly copying a single shape. Each copy only has meaning in relation to the other shapes nearby, and that meaning changes with the context around it. Delicate structures form and are subsequently obscured by further layers, and though they may be hidden, they still affect the perception of the final image. Clicking on the canvas will start or stop the looping mode, where the image is recreated in a slightly different way. New facets are exposed as the composition changes yet remains the same. Just as I spend my days trying to share my inner experience through my art, Through Curved Air uses each shape and each loop and each token hash to attempt to create a common feeling between myself and the viewer.

Through Curved Air also takes inspiration from the paintings of Joan Mitchell. I was drawn to her expressive strokes, vibrant colors, and use of negative space, all of which come together to give a more intense feeling of looking at a landscape than just looking at a painting of a landscape. Her energetic marks clearly communicate that there is a human being behind the art. The marks of generative works are often similarly representative of the underlying process, but instead of drawing focus to the artist behind the piece, they draw attention to the algorithm. To convey human emotion in the way I intended, I had to use a subtler algorithm.

The technical tools to convey this emotion are tools I have been consistently developing in my practice. I love making generative art because I can design a system where I understand how all the components work, but they can still come together to produce a result that surprises me. The algorithm behind the compositional variation in my earlier works Coquina and Primordial is one I continued to evolve, and it rests at the heart of Through Curved Air. In fact, I pushed it further than ever, using it to create the individual shapes that form the building block of each output. This emergent variation permeates the work and results in surprising images that more closely resemble paintings than anything I made previously. I believe the potential for surprise is key to conveying emotion through code. When the possibility space of the algorithm grows too large to understand, the mind wanders to the person behind the algorithm. Perhaps the human element is the struggle to understand, or the struggle to be understood.

Art Blocks Presents

Through Curved Air #65

Jacob Gold

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the spring begins with the first rainstorm

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Good, Computer

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