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5% of the proceeds will be donated to benefit victims in Ukraine

Assemblage

From the Insecta Class and Apidae Family, we find the Species Apis Mellifera: the western honey bee.  One of the more iconic aspects of honey bees is their hive, the hexagonal grid we call honeycomb; an efficient use of resources and space, and a beautiful representation of a geometric shape found in nature.

The humble grid has also been a mainstay of generative art from its earliest days.  Code up a loop or two and see what you can do.  What I've done with grids has been seen in many of my projects over the past year; in *Polka*, *Over the Air*, *Ode to Untitled*, and now *Mellifera*.  Breaking from the rectangular and square grid, and embracing the complexities of the hexagonal grid, *Mellifera* creates patterns working within the points and sides of a hexagon while laying out those patterns across a honeycomb like structure.

While working through this series of grid based projects, one main area of study has been finding ways to move off the grid, at least in appearance.  A recent move to a rural home has left me much more off the grid, and there's been a parallel through my projects.  Increasingly, I've explored ways to make the overall aesthetic not appear grid-like, to have a more organic feel, all the while though still centering elements perfectly in their place across the grid.  *Mellifera*, with its use of hexagons, imperfections, unique symbols, rotation, and negative space, is another step in this evolution, and the largest one yet.

While most of my work has embraced the digital and machine-like feel that computers and code are so easily capable of (again influenced from my appreciation of Roy), *Mellifera* moves in a new direction, introducing a more imperfect and human feel to the lines, shapes, and symbols.  These imperfections change the overall aesthetic drastically and are a main component in helping break away from the grid, visually.  While honey bees are incredible in their ability to create beautiful hexagonal geometric patterns, there's still a natural, lived-in feel to their creations, and *Mellifera* uses this organic quality as inspiration.

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Mellifera

pseudomods is a visual study on eurorack modular synthesizers, and other histories of control surfaces. abstract panels open to interpretation, possessed by an outside knob-fiddler.

pseudomods

Gravity 16 is about movement, transformation and exploration. It's about different stages of thought. From the birth of an idea, to starting a journey, a growing mind, to getting lost and suddenly finding back, seeing the light, succeeding and finally fading away.  The collection consist of 14 different themes, all generated with the same algorithm.

Gravity 16

Attempts at perfection are destined to fail. This project embraces the impossibility of perfection in human execution and digitally simulates these imperfections.

In his abstract minimalist work, visual artist Wouter Kalis steers away from meaning. Horizontal black and white paper strips are placed on colored paper panels and one strip dictates the placing of the next. However, each attempt at perfection ends in failure. These mistakes have now become the signature of his work and contribute to the depth of content.

Digital representations of minimalist art can be executed to perfection but are less interesting to look at. In this project, artist Wouter Kalis and his son, software engineer Rosco Kalis, together attempt to recreate the human touch in digital art, the imperfection. 

The project displays computer-generated digital works similar to the physical works made out of paper. The colors of the digital panels are directly derived from the colors of the paper used for the physical work. The digital works can thus be reproduced using real paper. Please see the project website for details if you're interested in purchasing a handmade physical reproduction of your NFT.

Art Blocks Presents

Assemblage #161

SAB & K2xL

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