An Exploration into Generative Art: Project 1

Project 1 description: To create a piece that embodies randomness in art. No tools specified.

Thursday 1/20/2021

I started thinking about what type of art I wanted to create. I decided that if I can, I would like to learn how to create digital art, but also attempt to mix that with physical 3D elements . The only coding language I have ever known is MATLAB so I am excited to produce art instead of math through code. I have started to look into Processing.org and learning their coding language.

I started with programming one square with others inside of it . I want to attempt to make a pattern from this.

I've progressed into making multiple squares and have organized them into a grid. I have begun to understand how to randomize colors.

Friday 1/21/2021

Continued coding and created three generated pieces. The code randomizes the colors of all squares in the painting:

A snippet of Code:

noStroke();

background(51, 0, 0);

color inside = color(random(0,256), random(0,256), random(0,256));

color middle = color(random(0,256), random(0,256), random(0,256));

color outside = color(random(0,256), random(0,256),

random(0,256));

pushMatrix();

translate(80, 80);

fill(color(random(0,256), random(0,256), random(0,256)));

rect(0, 0, 200, 200);

fill(color(random(0,256), random(0,256), random(0,256)));

rect(40, 60, 120, 120);

fill(color(random(0,256), random(0,256),

random(0,256)));

rect(60, 90, 80, 80);

popMatrix();

ETC.

Sunday 1/23/2021

Figured out how to upload my own media into a code and then either manipulate the image directly or use Brownian movement to overlay on top. I like the effect of the direct manipulation and the overlay. Both have been interesting to code. I would like to learn how to draw random lines that then create the image, but at the moment that is beyond my capability.

I have one more idea for this project that would actually be physical in nature. I bought a clear acrylic piece of plastic 11X14. I am going to paint it using water based paints. Tomorrow (Monday 1/24/2021) it is planned to rain, so I am going to leave it out for a few moments and see how the rain has affected the piece.

Monday 1/24/2021

The Rain Project: I used blue orange and white to cover my acrylic canvas. Complementary colors just stood out the best to me and I didn't want to overcrowd the painting with too many colors.

Photos of the Before and After leaving it out in the rain are below.

And then I put it out in the rain!

Questions:

Anything to improve the code for the geometric pieces?

Do you have a favorite for the photography pieces?

Any feedback for the rain pieces?

Do any of these need to be a series?

Which of these projects do you like the most?

Thursday 1/27/2021

I have a thought stuck in my head. Class didn't help too much because I was already so far along with my pieces and had a few to choose from. So now I'm thinking of ways to improve these for submission. I think I'll improve upon 2 of them- the random squares piece and the rain project. For some reason, I'm kind of stuck on the acrylic. Thinking of incorporating it into the random squares piece along with the code.

Friday 1/28/2021

I Pivoted. I only improved upon one. I did more research into color theory and Albers and from that I created 2 different installations.

First Piece--Though coding, there is a 5X4 grid of nested squares. The computer has randomly chosen hue, saturation, and brightness for each square on the board with no correlation from one square to the other.

• All Four Rows are randomly generated for each square for hue color and saturation.

Second Piece-- Through coding, there is a 5X4 grid of nested squares. Each of the middle nested squares is randomly assigned a hue, saturation, and brightness and then based on this value, the smaller and larger squares are assigned a hue that corresponds to the color wheel. The saturation of the smallest and largest squares are randomly chosen.

• Row 1: Largest and smallest squares are analogous in hue to the middle square.

• Row 2: Largest and smallest squares are triadic in hue to the middle square.

• Row 3: Largest and smallest squares are square in hue to the middle square.

• Row 4: Largest and smallest squares are tetradic in hue to the middle square.

I wanted to incorporate 3d elements into this piece so I separated the squares, and mounted it on foam board. I then painstakingly cut out each individual middle and smallest squares and arranged them as the computer had them on the original grid. In this way, the foam board propped up the colors to create depth. Albers had originally sought to answer the question if 3 hues on a flat surface would create depth. I wanted to play into that notion and take that out as a variable for the viewer.

So when I present on Tuesday I would like to present both pieces. One based solely on randomness and the other based on randomness in correlation to color theory. There is also a random element in how each piece is viewed because of the depth created by the foam board, each viewer will be looking at it from their own unique perspective. I thought I would like the purely random one, but it turns out that I am more drawn to the color theory piece.

Which do you prefer? Can you tell them apart?

February 2nd, 2022.

The title of these two pieces are "Randomization of Albers." The two would be displayed on a wall with an equal distance between each other. They are to always be displayed together so that the viewer can see a difference between a color theory piece and something that is completely randomized. This will not be conveyed to the viewer, but they will be left to come to the conclusion on their own.