VerticalCrypto Art’s Curatorial Picks — February 2nd, 2022
Welcome to this week’s VerticalCrypto Art Curatorial Picks — the weekly series where we discuss the latest creative innovators within the VerticalCrypto Art ecosystem.
Today, we are excited to introduce four artists from the genres of Generative Art and Crypto Literature: Sarah Ridgley, Jana Stýblová, Kesean and Loackme.
This week’s topic addresses the theme of abstraction. Abstraction is conveyed through generative code to forms of traditional artistic production. Artists observe the effects that creative coding has within their work, and combine this with signifiers and iconographies to achieve interesting results.
This Curatorial Pick highlights work from the farthest corners of the VCA community. As always, we cannot wait to show you what we have found.
Let’s begin!
Artist #1 — Sarah Ridgley, ‘The Lover’s Case’
Sarah Ridgley is a generative artist and coder based in Arkansas, USA.
Exploring the boundaries between the hand-drawn and the digital, Sarah is concerned with the study of asemic poetry met with generative art. As a risograph and letterpress printmaker, she is fascinated by the possibilities that digital mark-making provides when combined with traditional mediums, suggesting that software provides a greater scope for traditional line forms.
Discovering Generative Art through experimentations with Processing (a software sketchbook designed by Casey Reas and Ben Fry), Ridgley combines hand-drawn asemic writing with algorithms in expanding her artistic and poetic practice. First coming across NFTs through the CryptoKitties series in 2017, she has been coding her own Crypto Art since 2020.
‘The Lover’s Case’ is the latest series of generative works by Sarah Ridgley, created as part of theVERSEverse’s ‘Inaugural Collection’ in November, 2021.
Exploring symbology in addressing ‘the meaningless’, ‘The Lover’s Case’ is a series of four artworks made from illustrations of roses which are programmed with Javascript code. Throughout history, the rose has changed its meaning depending on how and when it is used. Here, Ridgley uses Javascript to separate the rose from any context, and question what interpretations are given in the absence of semantic communication.
‘The Lover’s Case’ has been chosen for this week’s Curatorial Pick thanks to this interesting use of what might be considered retrograde-symbolism. Contributing to generative wordplay, Ridgley’s work creates a displaced and paradoxical emotion surrounding a much familiar semiotic: the rose.
OBJKT, Foundation, Rarible, Twitter, Website.
Artist #2 — Jana Stýblová, ‘Lattice’
Jana Stýblová is a multidisciplinary digital artist and designer based in Portland, Oregon.
Also working at the intersection between the analogue and the digital, Stýblová creates art that explores notions of the temporal and subconscious. Creating art at a remove from tangible mark-making (instead opting for automated gestures), Jana produces otherworldly landscapes with reactions between paint and chemicals, code and photography.
Having a background in Astrophysics, Design and Fine Art, Stýblová describes her work as being ‘dichotomous’: exploring the freedom of human imagination through combined analogue and digital techniques and manipulations. Jana has been producing NFTs since February, 2021, and creating digital art and design since 2006.
‘Lattice’ is one of Jana Stýblová’s recent generative works, minted on the Async platform.
A commemoration to the support Stýblová has received from a collector since 2021, ‘Lattice’ presents a lattice filled with over three dozen varying photographs of acrylic paint on canvas. Created using Async’s layering technology, this piece changes its symmetry once every few hours, providing a new artwork derived from its ever-changing, painterly assets.
‘Lattice’ has been selected for this week’s Curatorial Pick thanks to its diligent preparation and execution. Presented in gorgeous 4K, this piece is a geometric spectacle which offers a fresh outlook on the traditional possibilities of painting. Using code to manipulate a new form of post-analogue art, we think that Stýblová’s temporal work is a wonderful addition to our curatorial series.
Artist #3 — Kesean, ‘the ville’
Kesean is a generative artist based in Houston, Texas.
Constructing ‘freeform’ artworks with references to nature, life and art, Kesean uses code to understand the intricacies of his own creative process. Mixing code with softwares such as Touchdesigner, he produces abstract pieces that emphasise storytelling through minimalism, conveying emotion through generative fractals, geometries and repeat patterns.
Appreciating his connections shared with the Crypto Art community, Kesean’s motivation behind works demonstrates a shared passion for Generative Art. Inspired by the reciprocity from artists and collectors, Kesean is drawn to the ‘collective’ network and mindset of enthusiasts interested with the history and practice of the medium. Kesean was first introduced to Crypto Art through a friend (Alexis André), and has been minting on the Hic et Nunc platform since 2020.
‘the ville’ is a late artwork by Kesean minted on SuperRare, made in collaboration with curatorial platform ARTXCODE (a collective supporting the algorithmic arts through exhibitions, special projects and private sales).
A unique 1/1 within Kesean’s oeuvre, ‘the ville’ consists of diamond-like geometries that appear to reflect a prism of light. As audiences peer into a kaleidoscope of generative shapes, ‘the ville’ presents a visual mystery of colours, contours and objects, appearing ethereal and mystified to the senses.
‘the ville’ has been chosen for this week’s Curatorial Pick thanks to Kesean’s unique approach to Generative Art. Showcasing the simple effectiveness of code to present a thousand microscopic shapes and colours, ‘the ville’ draws our attention to its composition with beautiful appliqué of automated fractals and patterns.
Artist #4 — Loackme, ≋
‘Loackme’ (Loic Schwaller) is a digital artist, designer and programmer based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Exploring the ‘retro’ feel of black and white, pixelated Motion Art, Loackme creates hypnotic, looping GIF animations. Combining software packages such as Blender and After Effects with code and fragment shaders, he produces animations that have no beginning or end point, appearing minimal, decadent and endlessly creative.
With no formal art training, Loackme is an academic mathematician-cum-artist who prioritises reductive artistic production. Seeing the GIF format as a creative challenge, he utilises the image file over the more obvious MP4 file and its codecs to achieve seamless and ‘perfect’ transitions.
Loackme’s oeuvre is designed on the principles of Motion Art. Visualising infinitely generated rectangles, his work provides a dithered satisfaction to abstract art. Loackme has been engaged in artistic practises throughout his life, and began to mint motion works on Tezos’ blockchain in March, 2021.
‘≋’ is one of the latest artworks by Loackme, minted on the Hicetnunc platform.
Made in celebration of #HEN500K, this 900x900 square depicts an animation of waves. Waves, built from bitmap textures, are in a constant state of flux; congregating and dissipating from view. Upon close inspection, waves become unintelligible pixels. From a distance, they help to navigate the viewer across the square, dancing and rotating with our eyes until returning to the beginning frame.
‘≋’ has been chosen for this week’s Curatorial Pick thanks to its minimal and hypnotic emulation of waves. Showcasing the best of Loackme’s motion practice, this work immerses viewers with its abstract movement, pushing and pulling attention in a generative loop that is difficult to look away from.
Hicetnunc, fx(hash), Versum, Twitter.
That’s a Wrap! Thank you once again for tuning in to this week’s Curatorial Pick. We hope you enjoyed this week’s selection, and sincerely look forward to seeing you at the next one. Until then!
