Mazinaw is about the timeless struggle to express our humanity and communicate the ineffable. The title derives from Mazinaabikinigan-zaaga'igan, an Algonquin word meaning “picture” or “writing”, alluding to the dual nature of pictographs. 

Inspired by my encounters with neolithic cave paintings in Europe and indigenous pictographs flanking Canadian lakes, Mazinaw hints at etchings, drawings, and anthropomorphic forms. While Mazinaw draws on expressionists from Wassily Kandinsky to Norman Lewis, it takes abstraction one step further: each piece is constructed by the artist indirectly, via a generative code, allowing the emergence of new undreamt-of forms.

The 19 palettes are inspired by the natural world, but their roles are sometimes twisted: cerulean blue strokes appear over an ochre canvas, and green flashes of light hop across a gray expanse. I invite the viewer to spend time with each piece, finding their own order from chaos. Signed fine-art archival inkjet prints will be available for owners at a modest cost.

Note: Mazinaw is best viewed in large format (full screen), or printed. Each piece has infinitely fine details, some of which will only be visible in print. Mazinaw renders seamlessly in any aspect ratio; adjust the window size and shape as desired, click on the frame, and type 'f'. 

Controls:

 s   -- save as png
 spacebar  -- pause/unpause
  f   -- toggle square / fit-to-screen aspect ratio
   1-6  -- set pixel density (default=2 on retina displays)
   +/-  -- increase/decrease pixel density
   n -- enable/disable night mode
   p -- enable/disable pastel mode

Mazinaw

Beatboxes are fully immersive, virtual reality, audiovisual generative art on the Ethereum blockchain. Beatboxes consist of 841 generated unique rooms where you can fully immerse yourself with any virtual reality device. You can also enjoy them from your pc in a more conventional way. Beatboxes are our second experimental piece of art, following the successful release of Unigrids. The goal with this collection was to create an environment where you can escape your reality for a moment and enjoy your unique piece of art while stimulating the most senses possible. You can open your eyes inside your unique art piece and explore by looking around and listening as you enjoy something you own. In live view use arrows to move around and spacebar to start the music and animation. Visit beatboxes.io to browse all Beatboxes more easily, Have fun! *note that Beatboxes are using aframe which is currently not optimized for ios mobile and safari browser. 

Beatboxes

A geometric composition of a contrasting middle "heart" and an outer "soul". The seed of the symmetrical heart is broken into varying amount of chambers that are calculated to keep its corridors at the exact constant width in order to preserve its rigid mathematical character, yet provide enough space for variety for interesting geometrical patterns. The composition is balanced by a contrasting loose intertwining soul spreading to the borders of the passepartout that, along with the lining, give the piece a feeling of antiqueness. Heart and soul may also contain anomalies and unusual palettes. 

a heart and a soul

ÂPEX ~ is a generative landscape art project responding to the conditions of the Anthropocene, where the lines between what is possible and what is only imagined are constantly shifting.  Simplified circles give way to hyperreal spaces. It is unclear if at any point they resemble a landscape that one could actually inhabit.

At what point do abstract shapes start to resemble believable environments? Each viewer may experience this work differently, depending on where they draw the line between realism and abstraction, natural form, reality and fantasy.

While landscape art is traditionally understood to represent natural forms, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between the natural and manufactured. When the code runs its course and a static picture emerges, a thin barrier seems to be crossed.

The work tests out the limits between reality and hyperrealism, between abstraction and surrealism, blurring distinctions between them.

Created by Ori Ben Shabat & Ronen Tanchum

APEX

An evolving generative art project, inspired by the longing to connect with nature. It explores the relationship between art, code and nature. - "Becoming the Mountains and Rivers". 
The series explores the mythic idea of a time that came before, when we were one with nature and ourselves. This landscape refuses to hold still. Instead, the viewer is asked to contemplate about being the constant in this ever changing space. They are the only thing that can create a true moment in an otherwise fluid and dynamic world. The piece invites viewers to become fully immersed in the landscape, to contemplate their own inner zen and to feel a sense of calm and peace as they watch the land, water, and sky move and flow. It is an invitation to appreciate the beauty of nature and to reflect on the endless yearning for completeness that we all experience at some point in our lives. Like a postcard that transports us to another time, or a memory that provokes feelings of longing and missing, "Longing" invites us to reconnect with ourselves and to find peace in the ever-flowing river of life in the current moment.

The piece uses generative code to create a space where one can appreciate the beauty of nature while gaining a new perspective on how we perceive art. Instead of presenting viewers with the conventional form of a painting’s static view-through-the-window, Longing takes viewers into a living and breathing artwork. Just as nature moves in patterns that we know how to anticipate but can’t predict, Longing also moves in ever-evolving patterns that are both comforting and surprising. In this way, Longing challenges the static nature of painting while testing out where digital art can take us—is this a form of art that is in sync with nature? Or does it take us further away by inserting additional layers of mediation? Longing does not answer these questions, but it helps us contemplate possible responses, and pushes us to reconsider the nature and purpose of art in the 21st century.

Technical details
Immersive~ The artwork would fit any format ratio and resolution, hit full screen to widen the view and experience the work in landscape formats.

Evolving~ Movement: Time lapse after draw starting at the featured time and transitioning to the local time of the work, when local time is settled the work will display the current time and evolve the sky with it. Accompanied with the slow movement of colors ramps in the landscape, and water rippling.

Output~ 
~Press "s" to save a .PNG file at any stage at current resolution. 
~Press "p" to render and save a high resolution .PNG file for print x3 current resolution.

Created and developed by Ronen Tanchum and Ori Ben Shabat

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