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The Curated Collection includes projects that have been selected by Art Blocks’ Curation Board for their world-class innovation, technical rigor, and aesthetic beauty.

curated

This collection comprises projects screened and selected by Art Blocks and embodies our standards for artistic creativity, conceptual rigor, and technical achievement.

presents

This is the place where we tinker. What lives here is free of theme or architecture but the one common strand is that these projects all grant us delight.

explorations

The Art Blocks × Pace collection includes boundary-pushing generative projects by select Pace artists developed in partnership with Pace Verso.

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Through an exhibition program that extends across galleries globally, Art Blocks × Bright Moments showcases and launches the work of acclaimed natively generative artists.

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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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**High-Resolution Downloads**
* Press 1 for 3000 x 4500
* Press 2 for 6000 x 9000
* Press 3 for 9000 x 13500

See download limitations under Display Notes.

Mellifera

***"Ode to Untitled"***  is a culmination of inspiration from the color field and minimalist painters of the 20th century.  While my medium has changed from disc golf discs, to canvas, to digital canvas, to digital photography, and finally to code editor - the inspiration and output has remained abstract.  Seeing the works of Clyfford Still, Morris Louis, Agnes Martin, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, and Kenneth Noland (among others - hi Roy) seeded my desire to create visual art.

What many of these artists have in common, sometimes for differing reasons, was a fondness for naming their works *"Untitled"*.  Clyfford Still was entirely dedicated to this practice, while others came and went.  When other titles were used, often they were nondescript cataloging values or a rote description of the colors or shapes found in the work.  And, of course, abstract art history in general, and our current day, is littered with *"Untitled"* works.  Whether a desire to leave interpretation open to the viewer, not wanting to sully their visual work with words, a dedication to minimalism, or laziness - it's all fine with me.

While "Ode to Untitled" is not a direct reflection of any particular works, you will see influences shining through:  zips of color streaking across the canvas, an appreciation of the simple square and grids, a focus on texture, large fields of color, and a love of minimalism.  This one goes out to all the *"Untitled"* works.

**High Resolution Downloads:**
* Press 1 for a resolution of 3000px
* Press 2 for a resolution of 6000px
* Press 3 for a resolution of 9000px

*Resolutions may vary if you scale your display*

Ode to Untitled

While rotating and morphing, an undercover shape blends in with criss-crossing layers of color blocks.

WARNING: Contains flashing imagery.

Interactive Controls: 
Use the arrow keys (or WASD) to move the undercover shape around the screen
Press F to toggle on/off the flashing color blocks
Press R to toggle on/off the rotation of the shape
Press M to toggle on/off the morphing of the shape
Press C to center the shape on the canvas
Press B to return the shape to its beginning location
Press spacebar to toggle on/off all animations

Undercover

An ode to Roy Lichtenstein, incorporating his iconic version of Ben-Day dots, halftone dots, angled stripes, and solid color patches. Inspired by Roy's sea and landscape paintings, each artwork generates a unique combination of patterns, shapes, and colors.

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Mellifera

Ode to Untitled

Undercover

Ode to Roy

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