Darkness of winter months, pleas for softness. 
A tender counting until days grow longer. 

Released for the VerticalCrypto Art _Companions of Code_ exhibition: London / NYC, 2023.

Press [s] in live view to save file as PNG.

This original generative art was created with code utilizing the p5.js library.
© 2023 Lisa Orth - All Rights Reserved
lisaorth.xyz

A Tender Count(ing)

Instructions for Defacement is a generative art project developed for release on plottables.io, in which NFTs of unique pen plotter instructions are created upon mint. Each Instruction, which is represented by an SVG, is designed to be interpreted by modern pen plotting software and drawn on an area equal to 5.8125" x 2.34252". All instructions that cannot be executed by a pen plotter are designed to be performed manually.   Defacing US currency is a federal crime, and may be punishable with up to six months imprisonment in addition to fines. Neither the Artist nor Plottables LLC condone defacing, mutilating, cutting, disfiguring, perforating, or otherwise damaging US currency.  By purchasing an Instruction token the collector implicitly assumes full legal responsibility for the defacement of currency in their possession, and agrees to hold the Artist nor Plottables LLC harmless from all claims, losses, liabilities, public prosecutions, costs, and costs associated with this project.  All Instructions exist simply as and artistic exercise, and collectors are strictly discouraged from executing said Instructions using the following tools: Axidraw pen plotters, fine-point pens (ex. Micron, LePen, Stabilo), felt tip and highlighter pens (ex. Sharpie), scissors, and lighters. The token thumbnail represents a simulation of what this may look like if executed on the pictorial area of the United States one-dollar bill.  As a token of gratitude, each collector is entitled to a $1.00 rebate, issued in the form of a crisp bank note, when a request is made to the Artist in person.  This project was a 48 hour open edition from 11/11/22 - 11/13/22

Instructions for Defacement

If winds were fibers, what would they weave?

I live on a hillside near the coast. Seasonal winds sculpt the trees into tortured but elegant shapes. Some are stripped bare but still reach for the sky. Others bend their trunks to protect their foliage like a shield.

This project began with an idea to simulate smoke and the winding paths it follows. The smoke coalesced into strands of fiber and colorful yarn. Then it swirled into strange and organic forms.

Some look like those wind-sculpted trees. Others are blankets unraveling, or storybook creatures felted from wool.

If you look close, they are all fuzzy and soft and begging to be touched.

As this project developed I researched fiber arts, an artistic tradition with a rich history. I spoke with artists and friends who knit, weave, felt wool, and raise Alpacas and sheep. Windwoven pieces don't try to simulate actual weaving, but the project is grounded in the fiber arts world. Many palettes are drawn from yarn and wool roving colors and from shades of Alpaca fur. The color blending mimics the dynamic colors that can be achieved when carding dyed wool.

Of course, most of the outputs could only be made with code, pushing fiber-like artwork into new realms.

Windwoven

𝕃𝕪𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕖𝕤 is a series of generative artworks inspired by Ernst Haeckel‘s illuminating illustrations on biological evolutions. Combining the visual language of microscopic organisms and flowers, the Lycorises artworks aim to represent the intricacies of life and how it constantly evolves.  
Each color palette reflects the unique structure of 𝕃𝕪𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕖𝕤 specifically evolved in its environments, including the volcano, alien desert, or cyberspace.  These environments encouraged the growth of characteristic features, such as spikes, feathers, and leaves, that protect the Lycoris seed.

Lycorises

I have been long interested in education and generative art, approaching them separately most of the time. This artwork tries to get them closer in my practice, by letting the experiencer of the piece finish it by creating a part of it with a rule-based system, to mimic what the system does but at a smaller scale. This little game is not just a playful addition, but a fundamental part of the artwork, without which the piece is not complete.  The title is drawn from the idea that generative art can take you to explore every corner of a given space of possibilities, finding the strange things (extrañezas) along the way. Also, exploring the what ifs when some rules are broken. And experiencing it in first person.

The piece aims to show various parts of how I create my pieces, by showing the different layers it is composed of and letting the experiencer finalise the artwork by having to recreate step by step what the algorithm has done to create the intermediate work. Art has this tremendous power to engage, to attract, to let the observer get carried away in their own inner world as a reaction to what the piece proposes. I believe the positive impact of a piece in the experiencer can be then increased if they can understand better the process that creates the piece.

The piece creates a base layer of colour shapes, rather informal and basic. It then uses vertical lines to add rhythm to it, and a distortion layer to generate a more intricate canvas. The lines layer is then used again to act as a mask, effectively creating windows into the layer with the simple shapes. The experiencer then has to find the way to ask the piece to play a game (hint: most of my pieces accept written commands). When they are rewarded with this possibility, the piece writes in the browser console (press cmd+shift+i / ctrl+shift+i  to see it in most browsers) a set of instructions of what to to next. The experiencer can then finish the piece with their own intent. In a way, it's a performance of the piece. A way to make it more personal. Or to just wander around with no intention. Relaxing our thoughts with pure play is something we seldom do as adults, yet it is the source of new thoughts, ideas, or a way to find inner equilibrium.

Aesthetically, it is furthering the exploration of colour that I have been doing in most of my pieces. A clear reference to me is František Kupka series of paintings made of vertical lines, of which "The cathedral" is one of the best known. While I had this in mind, I abandoned my original intention of creating a tribute to that series, but ended up visually close in some outputs.

The piece allows for further control. The instructions are written to the browser console when loading the piece. They can also be found in the Display Notes section, or in my website, https://www.iillucid.com/extranezas. A quick summary: press s to save current image, v followed by 1, 2, 3 or 0 to see all the layers in the image. Please try to find the hidden _game_. The piece is not complete without it.

Art Blocks Flex

A Tender Count(ing) #144

Lisa Orth

More in Art Blocks Flex

Instructions for Defacement

Steve Pikelny

Windwoven

Radix (Rob Dixon)

Lycorises

Xin Liu and Nan Zhao

Extrañezas

Marcelo Soria-Rodríguez

Art

Company

Learn