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

Don't fight it. Just respect it. Made by Dmitri Cherniak with Javascript and GLSL.

The Eternal Pump

Cyber Cities

Initially worn by miners and cowboys, roughly half of the world’s population wears denim on a given day, and the range of styles is–literally–endless. A new pair of jeans might be acid bleached, sandblasted, stonewashed, or tie-dyed; it can have hand-sanded rips and tears, followed by visible mendings, patches, intentional paint stains, and more. In an epic attempt to crack the genetic code of denim, Jenim playfully but carefully observes and translates the warp and weft of denim into generative code, weaving unique iterations of irregular, distorted, or hyper-realistic textile crops.

Ironically, imitating aging, a pair of jeans produced today generates more pollution and labor than most average garments. In response, Jenim’s minted iterations go beyond wearables and into infinity. Each year that passes, the color might fade slightly; the rips might expand. Who knows what these artworks will look like ten or even fifty years from now?

Jenim

Strata explores the field of geology and more specifically rock layering. In the physical world, layered rocks form when particles settle from water or air. These layers of sedimentary rock are called strata. In the digital world, the Strata algorithm generates layer upon layer of colors to draw the impression of rock layering. Each token hash decides the unique path Strata takes through the generative space to the final output.

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Mazinaw #181

Eric De Giuli

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