*Arcadia* is a homage to the fridge-worthy landscape art of our youth. Childhood techniques of creating art are re-imagined by the scribbles of a nostalgic, computer-assisted mind.

**Spacebar**: Skip animation and load final image (useful when rendering in high resolutions)
**Up arrow**: Speed scribbles up (default speed is the highest)
**Down arrow**: Slow scribbles down

Arcadia

“𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚎𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚢𝚖𝚋𝚘𝚕𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚋𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚖𝚞𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚢𝚖𝚋𝚘𝚕. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜.”

'Automatism' is inspired by the practice of artists where they are given a writing implement and a blank surface, and they go freestyle, almost mindlessly filling up the space with whatever comes to their minds and out of their hands. I've often wondered where a machine's mind and "hand" would wander given the same opportunity.

This project explores the age-old computer art phenomenon of inviting the viewer to actively participate in the interpretation of the visual output. The way "Sharp-E" draws the strokes is through a mix of various movements — irregular curves, straight lines, sudden changes in direction — in a classic random walk algorithm, while avoiding overlaps with previously drawn strokes. There are no pre-programmed forms per se, but nevertheless it can be common for the viewer to perceive images, symbols, meaning in the generated output.

So where does your mind wander? What forms, symbols, and meaning do you see?

Controls:
• 'D' toggles pausing/drawing or continues space-filling after the first stop (if available)
• 'R' reassembles the piece (This automatically happens every minute)
• 'S' saves the output

Automatism

Darwin’s Orchid wasn’t discovered by Darwin, but he correctly hypothesized that its long blooms, up to a foot and a half tall, coevolved with a moth with a very long tongue—just long enough to extract its nectar. This flower embodies the great variety of and fascination with the orchid family. Orchids come in all shapes, sizes, colors, textures and scents—perhaps this is why they’ve entranced cultures dating back well over five millennia, becoming symbols of virility, beauty, peace and prosperity in the process. Named “Cattleya” after my first rare orchid, this work is my Ode to Orchids—a mystical flower that brings me endless delight.

Read more about my [inspiration & process↗](https://bensnell.medium.com/7c943673d54f)

*Notes:*
*— This project is intended to be run on modern devices, operating systems and browsers. Older ones may yield undesired or undefined behaviors.*
*— This script includes a modified version of [glsl-fast-gaussian-blur](https://github.com/Jam3/glsl-fast-gaussian-blur), licensed under the MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2015 Jam3.*

Cattleya

This series delves into a glitch style technique called pixel sorting, which is generally known to be used as a post-processing method in photography. Pixel sorting is a procedure that isolates segments of pixels and sorts their positions based on any number of criteria (i.e. luminosity, hue, saturation). 

Assorted Positivity is a generative approach to making pixel sorting art without any photographic base. The algorithm uses several types of noise to generate an initial design, each one unique to the token and specifically conducive to pixel-sorting. The sorting displaces pixels in various directions based on their grayscale value; and hues determine how the sorting ends. Sometimes the sorting lends itself to a sort of drip look and other times it presents itself as depth and shading.

This project was initially influenced by my desire to sort past the ubiquitous negativity online and focus on the positivity, generosity, and genuine thoughtfulness that I have witnessed around this genart space--with collectors, artists, and people who simply appreciate the community.

Integrated into each piece is an uplifting adjective that is visible, yet blended into the art. At a glance, the viewer may not notice the steganographic message that is conveyed by an international visual method of telegraphing words. Each word is one that I imagine being used to describe people in the community, their actions, artists, and/or their work.

Every output brings me joy, and is a reminder to treat others with kindness and positivity.

Watch as the pixels sort themselves out. 

Rendering is best viewed in Chrome on a desktop with a high end GPU.

A portion of the proceeds will go toward the international Make-A-Wish Foundation in the hopes of bringing some joy to critically ill children around the globe.

Assorted Positivity

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?

Art Blocks Presents

Arcadia #86

Zachariah Watson

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Automatism

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