*Elefante* builds on my previous long-form work and pushes it to incorporate multiple remixed canvases using a single photograph of a giant Yucca (Latin name - Yucca elephantipes) as a starting point.

The project blends elements of Brutalism, Concrete art, and collage to create abstract displays of coloured forms and photography, some reminiscent of architecture, some paper cut-outs.

I aimed for the pieces to ‘scan’ well from a distance or at smaller sizes, but also to have a more 'material' quality than some of my prior work. I wanted texture without skeuomorphism.

Elefante

INFINITE | 無限 invites an exploration of the dichotomy between vastness and singularity, encapsulating the essence of spatial and dimensional dynamics. Moving from clearly delineated boundaries of color and shape to more nebulous and subjective, like the edges of a thought or feeling. It is an allusion to the ever-expanding nature of our universe, the inconceivable borders that define our cosmic reality.

The project alludes to the exploration of the minutiae, the absolute singular, the elemental. It invites us to broaden our perceptions of both the physical and metaphysical dimensions, as well as our understanding of the world and our place within it. The AI model, once trained, endlessly produces new visuals. The metaphorical ebb and flow of these AI-generated images, their birth, and their subsequent journey into the universe, encourage a meditative state, as if taking part in a digital transcendental journey into the heart of the cosmos.

Visuals are created with Javascript code and custom GAN model, trained by artist. Outputs are generated live with model and code hosted on Blockchain/IPFS.
Training data of the artist’s custom AI model includes paint close ups, abstract photographs and original images by ESA/Hubble (esahubble.org)

Ivona Tau
2023

INFINITE | 無限

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.

Extrañezas

Minnesang