Brushpops is a generative system inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s iconic work, where a random hash determines the composition of a series of abstract brush strokes. Lichtenstein’s original work has separated the brushstrokes from their original context, and now we take another step in the same direction, and separate the artist from the work. The artist has to relinquish control, and set the work free, where only some loosely-predetermined rules and a hash number will determine the actual outcome. The Brushstroke was detached from the painting, and it’s now detached from the artist as well.

Brushpops

# Seedlings

"A young plant, especially one raised from a seed."

Each Seedling grows delicately on a windowsill gazing outside. A Seedling's natural environment–whether a grassy prairie, a rocky mountain, or by a river–is but a memory now, leaving a faded imprint on the canvas' outer border. Some Seedlings resemble trees and flowers, others may appear to be geometric abstractions and fractals–yet all feature interplay between filled patterned regions (leaves and petals) and lines of solid color (stems and branches). Other abstractions also make an appearance: circles representing fruits, stars, or the sun and moon; and a gradient sky with foggy clouds beyond the frames of the window.

## Foundation

The idea for Seedlings was sown in 2019 and was my first foray into Generative Art. It began as a study of fractal trees where each depth level was individually parametrized (angle of rotation, length, etc.). Initially just a hobbyist project in the pre-Art Blocks era, I returned to Seedlings in 2022 to develop it into the longform series, I believe, that most effectively highlights the underlying algorithm's potential. So, I rewrote Seedlings from scratch, turning its simple monochromatic line renderer into a WebGL shader renderer capable of transforming Bézier curves into abstract stems, branches, leaves, and petals with diverse and colorful palettes.

## Inspiration

Having lived much of my life in New York, one of the most urbanized cities in the world, I developed a significant appreciation for green spaces. The city's parks became a refuge from the urban sprawl–where one could touch some grass, breathe fresh air, and pretend they were somewhere else. In an attempt to fill more of my life with green, I placed some plants on my windowsill. The joy they bring my home inspired Seedlings.

Over the course of its development, Seedlings collected many stylistic influences, including Hokusai's trees, Charles Demuth's crisscrossing polygonal regions, and Alphonse Mucha's curves. As such, you will find elements of Ukiyo-e and Art Nouveau across the collection. Seedlings also contains stylistic elements found in my other work, such as ink-like outlining and the concept of shape overlap.

Additionally, I drew inspiration from contemporary longform Generative Art that aims to create complex emergent behaviors from the interactions of a small set of primitives. The structural patterns that form each Seedling are created purely from the probabilistic placement of their branches and petals.

## Dedication

Seedlings has been a labor of love and has particular sentimental value to me as the inception of my Generative Art practice. It feels fitting and very exciting to be given the opportunity to release Seedlings on Art Blocks, the original longform Generative Art platform. Thank you to everyone who helped and supported me during this journey.

Seedlings

Letters to My Future Self is a series looking at communication through time. There is so much I want to tell my future self that words can't express: from the fear and anger I've felt in lockdown isolation to the joy in finding new friends and community. Each piece in this series becomes a small part of a much bigger story -- letters sent into the future expressing our collective hopes, fears, sadness, and love. A moment in time captured in perpetuity on the blockchain for future generations to find and reflect on. 25% of proceeds will support future artists through art education grants via Donors Choose.

Letters to My Future Self

Gravity Grid is heavily inspired by Go, a 2,500 year old board game. The game of Go is played on a 19x19 grid, which is how every Gravity Grid invocation begins. A psychedelic "gameboard" is drawn and pulled apart by gravity, as if slowly orbiting a black hole in space. Each Gravity Grid starts at a different stage of this process. Don't forget to click and hold - you *might* find an additional effect.

Gravity Grid

Totem of Taste is all about the donuts. More than donuts, it is about taste buds.
It celebrates the delightful, sweet, and mysterious flavors that the tip of your tongue wants to remember but cannot disentangle.
In a bite, one sense ignites another.
On the palette, a color blends with its ethereal neighbor.
A point moves in tandem with millions of other points to reflect the monumental presence of food in our lives in real-time.
The donuts are made with strange attractors – dynamic systems that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. The algorithm guides the trajectories of the points until they settle into deterministic shapes to naturally form textures.


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Art Blocks Presents

Brushpops #337

Matty Mariansky

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