1/4 "Barbarians" by Jacek Markusiewicz impresses me like no other recent work of #GenerativeArt has.
The images of majestic mountain slopes and neatly arranged fields – with occasional buildings strewn in between them – at first feel strangely detached and bland, thanks to a distant, aerial point of view and bleached, bright colours. Yet the way the landscapes are unexpectedly interrupted by smooth, deep, geometrical gashes appears alien and out of place.
2/4 This juxtaposition of nature and incomprehensible architecture gives rise to feelings of awe, wonder and sorrow, and reminds me a lot of what I feel when I look at the artist's previous masterpiece "Hollow", while aesthetic and subject immediately made me think of @monotau's equally astonishing 2022 #fxhash project "Cradle".
3/4 The title implies a hierarchy of cultural development; in the description, Markusiewicz explains how the concept of barbarism always derogatorily refers to "the other". He leaves open who the barbarians are in the context of these images, however.
Are they the people living in the tiny buildings between the invasive structures? Or are the structures the signs of a barbaric intrusion into a peaceful civilization living there? What other interpretations could there be for us?
4/4 Personally, I like to see the outputs as orbital reconnaissance images of a newly discovered world, taken by spacefaring explorers far away from home, as they stumble upon the unmistakable leftovers of an ancient, advanced civilization.
The way that the outputs of "Blokkendoos" by @piterpasma mirror the underlying code in their polished, complex precision masterfully displays how #GenerativeArt is… well, art!
1: "Blokkendoos #480" (owned by bored_bear)
2: "Blokkendoos #412" (owned by @raptornews)
3: "Blokkendoos #38" (owned by sheltronica)
4: source code of "Blokkendoos"
"Blokkendoos #412", an abstract digital artwork. Complex composition of rectangular and oval shapes of various colours, depths and sizes carved into and protruding from a white, matte surface. The shapes are overlapping and the underlying grid is irregular.
"Blokkendoos #38", an abstract digital artwork. Minimal composition of two elongated shapes, one an oval, one a rectangular, protruding from a silky, black surface, on a layer below it is a nearly circular oval shape carved from the same surface. There are three small circles scattered over the surface. The edges of all shapes are brightly orange. View of the source code of "Blokkendoos" with syntax highlighting. There are no line breaks that would structure the code, resulting in a screen full of expressions, variables and numbers.
Collage of 6 digital artworks: "There's No Distance #47" by Casey Reas "cambi #44" by Geoffrey Crayon “Mom look, it's glowing! #11” by agrshch "Strange Terrain #3" by Nate Nolting "Ratio #14" by Night Sea "Float Abyss #6" by CHOUCHIAWEI
“Float Abyss” by CHOUCHIAWEI: Vast complex structures in space, confusing perspectives occasionally revealing glimpses of a greater shape, reminiscent of Kyles's MEGASTRUCTURES. A pity that there are distracting dark bars around the images.
“Strange Terrain” by @natenolting: The generative landscape remains in the background and the nested frames define the images. Often in life, it’s about the framing of what we experience that makes a difference.
“There’s No Distance” by Casey Reas: The art is in the live view; smooth animation of dithered black and white shapes that are 2D projections of complex 3D cube rotations. Areas where shapes meet appear visually most intriguing.
“cambi” by Geoffrey Crayon: The endless possible variations of this open project and the visuals that often resemble digital, glitched snake skin make me see this as a representation of the mythological Ouroboros.