Sudan
Omdurman
Brown dust, hot air
Broken system, broken roads
Sweet sandalwood incense rising in smoke
Ladies wrapped in every color and every pattern
Morning milk tea with cookies out under the mango tree
Hopeful graffiti of revolution on every street wall
A thousand guests, a million cups of coffee
The two Niles converging at one point
Mixing, sorting, moving on North
I will leave for my home soon
But I won't forget
Omdurman
Sudan

This piece was made while I was visiting Sudan and during the time I started meetings to build a school using the charity money collected from all the amazing collectors of Sudfah.  I was inspired by the contrast between the ubiquitous dirt and broken system of Sudan and the beautiful colorful culture and people.  The colorful forms represent to me both the long flowy garments of the ladies and the smoke and aromas rising from the unique incense and perfumes of Sudan.

25% of the proceeds will be donated toward building a school for an underdeveloped community in Sudan.

Sandaliya

In this optical parade, motion is created from the harmonious expansion and contraction of colorful bars. Click to pause. *Photosensitive seizure warning: These artworks contain flashing colors and moving patterns. Dutch auction starting at 2 Eth and proceeding through the following tiers every 5 minutes until a resting price of .5 Eth is reached: 2 -> 1.5 -> 1  -> .5

Parade

CELLS was initially inspired by the very particular shape of neurons. I then gave free rein to my creativity and explored many of the aspects of these shapes (size, branches, form, colors, style, position, addition of elements, effects, and other surprises) to allow CELLS to generate a large number of very different variations. All parameters are set based on the unique transaction hash.

Cells

various corners 🌹 various colors 🌹 various directions

Corners

FOCUS is the second project in my ‘Zenerative’ series of Zen-inspired generative art, following [Ensō](https://www.artblocks.io/project/34). 

The algorithm can produce interactive pieces that are elegantly minimal as well as artworks featuring complex patterns that explore visual illusions and artificial space. FOCUS outputs span three responsive aspect ratios, each of which have three possibilities for the central shape - or focus. Drawing inspiration from the Zen art tradition of doing more with less, the limited palette consists of black, white, and five colors. This palette both constrains possible outcomes and allows the creation of unique perceptual interactions. Except in extremely rare scenarios, each piece can provide a wide variety of visual experiences through its interactive features: use up and down arrows to adjust the pattern recursion factor, left and right arrows to adjust the midpoint count, ‘h’ to hide or show the central shape, and ‘s’ to save.

As a gift to my collectors, FOCUS has a free-to-claim, 100% on-chain, generative SVG companion project called [deFOCUSed](https://matto.xyz/project/defocused/). (Thank you!)

Art Blocks Presents

FOCUS #160

Matto

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