Don Relyea's Blog

Generated tentacled eyeball monsters halloween 2009

Generated Monsters -- done in OF 0.06
I wrote a quick program to generate monsters for my kids this halloween. This is not a serious art project but fun for my family that turned into something cool enough to share.

It was done in c++ in openframeworks 0.06 using code blocks. You can download the source here (right click) and the textures here! I'm sure you can swap out different eyes and mouths for different looking monsters.

It uses a version the hair particle drawing class I wrote to do my hair drawings, I just swapped it out with opaque textures of eyeballs and mouths and placed the drawing origins in the lower right corner. I then copy the screen to a FBO Texture and draw that to screen flipped so the creature is both vertically and horizontally symmetrical and voila...a tentacled eyeball creature!

You can see all of these monsters at my flickr set "Generated tentacled eyeball monsters halloween 2009" there are over a hundred of them!

500x Open Show Theme: Landscape

"635 Commute" by Don Relyea

The 500x annual open show has moved from the end of the Spring season to Fall. This years theme is "Landscape". I always try to support 500x since it is the first place I showed anything a very long time ago.It is also a great place to try out new work and see what peoples reactions are at the opening.

This year I entered a piece titled "635 Commute" that uses two of my projects combined, my slit scan photography project and the good old reductionizer. I recorded several minutes of my commute to work and generated a slit scan image of the video, I then reduced it using the reductionizer and combined the images. The result is a 22 x17 photo print which looks fantastic. You can pick it up for cheap at the show.

There is still one more day to drop off art at 500x, they are taking stuff Tuesday night from 5-8pm as well.

Open Show Theme: Landscape

Exhibition Dates: October 10-31, 2009

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 10, 7-10pm Delivery Times: October 5 & 6, 5-8pm Pick-up: Sunday, November 1, 2009, 12-5 pm

All work in the Open Show must explore the image, presence, or idea of the landscape. Work in any media is accepted.

Requirements:

$25 per entry -5 entries maximum
Each piece must include name of artist(s), address, phone #, e-mail address, title of work, media, year of execution and sale price on the back.
Payment may be made with credit card, check or cash.
All work must be ready to hang-canvases, frames, etc. must have "D" rings or wire; unframed works on paper will be pinned to the wall unless other hanging systems are provided and prepared.
All video, sound, and media work must come with equipment, and the artist is required to come during the installation time to set up the work.
Work must not exceed 60" in any direction.
500X Gallery will retain a 30% commission on all sales.
Work will remain on view until the show closes at 5pm on Saturday, October 31, 2009
Exhibited works must be picked up Sunday, November 1, 2009, 12-5pm.
Other information
A storage fee of $50 will be charged for work that is not picked up on November 1, 2009. 500X Gallery carries no insurance and accepts no responsibility for work damaged while in storage. Stored work not picked up by Sunday, November 29 will become the property of 500X Gallery.

161 02 space filling curve art

"161 02" by Don Relyea

I have been using my space filling curve program to generate some textures with transparency for an open gl music visualization program I am working on for fun. "161 02" was a keeper.

I have ton of new ones I need to get around to posting on Flickr or here on my site soon.

Jeffrey Cortland Jones at Some Walls

Some Walls is a new curatorial and writing art project located in a private home in Oakland, California. For the inaugural exhibition, Some Walls is proud to present �Jeffrey Cortland Jones: Recent Paintings,� from September 10 � October 31, 2009. Images and an essay about the exhibition are at Some Walls.

Jeffrey Cortland Jones is Associate Professor at University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. A painter as well as a curator, he is much admired by peers for his lush and serious work, disciplined and productive practice, broad and active exhibition schedule, and friendly and generous spirit.

Some Walls will show four small recent paintings made with enamel on acrylic panels. Known for his use of industrial materials, institutional colors, complex layering, and vigorous mark-making, Jones had in the recent past used a more wild and vibrant palette. The four paintings in this exhibition head in a slightly different direction, however. Returning to his previous use of green and white, Jones has quickened, reduced, and softened his paint application, resulting in images that, though abstractions with a strong physical presence and object quality, with their vertical format and horizontal spatial divisions hint at the wintery-like atmospheric image of haze just as the sun is about to burst through.

Some Walls is open by appointment only. To view the exhibition online visit somewalls.com.

Collagenator by Quasimondo

Collagenator preview image by Flickr user Quasimondo

Quasimondo is teasing us with a generative collage project that blends several images based on a source photo. This particular piece looks great. I have been working on something very similar in openframeworks but Quasimondo's choice of source texture images is impeccable. Very well done.

New digital slit scans on Flickr

I have uploaded 144 new images to my Flickr account that I have been tinkering with for the past several months.

These images were created using a digital slitscan process. I wrote a program that generates several groups of 3d primitives. The separate groups of primitives are rotated in slightly different directions slowly while every frame of rotation a column of pixels is sampled from the middle of the image and used to make a picture.

The Flickr set is here!

Vague Terrain Journal 14

This issue of Vague Terrain(journal 14) is a must read for computational artists and enthusiasts...from Rhizome

A selection of artists, architects and writers were invited to contribute work that dealt with biological, botanical and morphogenetic ideas and processes. Some keywords and ideas to reflect upon were: Morphogenesis, Algorithmic Botany, Emergence, Genetic Algorithms, Cellular Automata, L-systems, Bacterial Aesthetics, Biomineralsiation, Autogenesis, Self-generation; Cellular Division, Cosmobiotechnics, Biomimicry and DNA sequences.

Contributing artists include: Alisa Andrasek (Biothing), Daniel Widrig, David Lu, Emma McNally, Jonathan McCabe, Kat Masback, Mark Fornes (THEVERYMANY), Michael Hansmeyer, Robert Hodgin (Flight404) and Wilfried Hou Je Bek.

Muti-Scale Radially Symmetric Turing Patterns by Johnathan McCabe

Verostko, Chiplotle and pen plotters

Roman Verostko , one of the original algorists, is also one of my favorite artists. He has been making exquisite algorithmic drawing using BASIC code and pen plotters outfitted with a variety of drawing tools including ink brushes since the 80's. I have seen some of his works in person and they quite nice. I hope to have one in my house one day as his work has been an inspiration..

�

Verostko at FEEDBACK, Centro de Arte y Creaci�n Industrial, LABORAL, Gijon, Asturias, Spain, 2007.

From Verostko's site...."Exhibition platform displaying Verostko's plotted drawings and his DMP52 pen plotter. The opening event for FEEDBACK included his historic pen plotter actively creating work with algorithms dating from the 1980's. The original HODOS, written in BASIC, is implemented� using DOS running on a laptop.� The works on display include a painting (far left) generated with Roman's code driving� paint brushes mounted on the plotter's drawing arm."

I have always thought Verostko's plotter approach to algorithmic drawing and painting was clever and I have have always had an urge in the back of my mind to try a pen plotter project. The barriers to entry for just such a project have been lowered with Chiplotle!

Victor Adan and Douglas Repetto have released Chiplotle: an HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) Python API for HPGL compatible pen plotters.

From the release on Eugene...."Chiplotle is a Python library that implements and extends the HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) plotter control language. It supports all the standard HPGL commands as well as our own more complex compound HPGL commands, implemented as Python classes. Chiplotle also provides direct control of your HPGL-aware hardware via a standard usb<->serial port interface."

Above is most likely one of Victor Adan's scores visualized and then plotted using Chiplotle

A quick survey of Ebay shows that you can get some decent large format pen plotters for 80-400 dollars, not too bad.

See:
http://chiplotle.org

Chiplotle manual:
http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/manual/

Commodities by Erik Dalzen

"1982 Worlds Fair PEZ Rare Astronaut B Blue Stem, 2009
Ink on Paper, 7x9" by Erik Dalzen

Erik writes on his web site..."Commodities is a collaborative project between me and spirited bidders. Art pieces are created based on specific marketable goods and cater to niche audiences of collectors and enthusiasts. The works are then exhibited on the auction website, eBay, under search terms that coincide with the vernacular from which each piece derives. Potential buyers may experience the thrill of shopping and the excitement of competition by vying against one another to win the art piece. The culminating action occurs at the close of each auction once rival bidders complete each piece by determining its value. "

View Active Listings

Erik's Project blog

Commodities is a great conceptual net art piece and fine example of how you don't need to be a technologist or extreme programmer(apologies to Erik if he is an extreme programmer) to create a very clever and well done net art project. I'll put my money where my blog is and bid on this one!

Twitter Mountains by Yann Le Guennec

Yann Le Guennec runs http://www.datapainting.com/ and you can see a wider variety of his work there. He uses data to make pictures. He maintains a blog as well, you can see it below:

http://www.yannleguennec.com/blog/2009/03/23/twitter-mountains/

Via Rhizome Announce

Recent publications in Itch Magazine and Art Digital Magazine

Big thanks to Max Eternity for publishing a piece on my work in his Art Digital Magazine, the article was titled "Don Relyea: Art Technologist". This Issue features work by me ( Don Relyea ), Jay Montgomery and Eric Heller. It is a very well put together artist run publication. Also a big thanks to artist Chris Ashley for recommending me!

Also last week my "Stick 'em Up" piece on the bailout was published in Itch magazine for their issue on Money and Greed.

Building a More Meaningul Existence by Daniel Everett

"Building a More Meaningul Existence" by Daniel Everett

Daniel writes..."For this project I used a graphics editor built into an early arcade game to convert spam emails I had received into a virtual landscape. By reconfiguring the graphics editor interface to accept keystrokes as input, I was able to build these landscapes solely by transcribing the spam messages and compiling them. For this piece I specifically chose spam messages that promised me a more meaningful life, increased happiness, and a greater sense of self-worth. "

Daniel Everett's website

Timeline Project by William Brovelli

Conceptual artist William Brovelli in front of "Timeline Project"

William Brovelli is a conceptual artist living in NYC. His work "Timeline project" is process based.

Brovelli writes... "The project consists of producing hundreds of thousands of hand-drawn figures that will be used as material for a case study documenting an evolution of the image. The figure is used as mental template which can be viewed as a cylinder that is divided into distinct sections that allow for a wide variation of moves. This neurological mapping will span a lifetime with all other urges towards conventional art making to be suspended to preserve the integrity of the project."

Brovelli was strongly influenced by the arcade game phenomenon and it influences the processes and concepts of his work greatly. He writes..." The act of starts and stops, moving through levels and keeping score as well as trying to advance towards a higher score are all key factors in the overall scheme of figure production. The finished sheets are framed in a 6ftx6ft white shadowbox simulating the arcade game encasement. "

close up of "Timeline project" by William Brovelli

He relates the process to the game experience..."The core drive in the mind of the player/artist when engaging in the game is the act of racing against time and the preservation of one's immortality. This act is symbolic yet the implications are very real."

It would appear from his website that he intends to continue this process approximately 3 hours a day for the rest of his life. He estimates before he dies he will be able to complete 879.4 canvases containing around 3,120 tiny 2 inch figures per canvas.

Revelation 2213 by Claudia X. Valdes

Revelation 2213 by Claudia X. Valdes is an interactive networked video installation with chroma key. The installation is configured to allow participants to see themselves mapped in real-time against an exploding nuclear bomb.

I have to admit I love this project as it is both wonderful and horrific at the same time. Seeing as how the Doomsday Clock is only 5 minutes to midnight at the time of this writing, this is such a relevant work for our times.

I have been thinking about atomic destruction a lot lately and I have recently watched some classics like Atomic Cafe, Dr. Strangelove and others which inspired me to make another atomic destruction song under my evilcomputergenius moniker called "the most beautiful sight ever seen by man" ( 2 MB mp3 right click to save to computer). I just finished the track a week or so ago which makes Valdes project that much more relevant to me.

REVELATION 2213 is currently installed in the solo exhibition, TEN MILLION DEGREES at:
Lawrimore Project
831 Airport Way South
Seattle, WA 98134
http://www.lawrimoreproject.com

originally via: http://rhizome.org/announce/view/52763#comment

Pixel Celebration (2009) - Parker Ito

originally from Rhizome.org

Barcode Portraits by Scott Blake

Artist Scott Blake Makes large portraits with barcodes.

Scott's Barcode work is really looking good. I first stumbled into his work while doing some research on Chuck Close, he also has a Chuck Close filter online. I gather from his blog that the Chuck Close filter is on the back burner and not quite done yet but it is fun never the less.

In the video you can see he has used the barcodes from the soup cans to create the portrait of Warhol. Scanning the barcodes triggers the soup can interface to display which can of soup the barcode belongs to and triggers a video of the soup being poured into the bowl.

He has a similar portrait of Jane Fonda that is a semi-finalist in the Smithsonian National Portrait Competition. Congrats to him and good luck for the finals, my hairy Bush portrait was rejected from the Smithsonian competition lol.

Chris Ashley and Rusty Scruby openings

There is a lot of great art going on this weekend. If I were in SF I would check out Chris Ashley and locally Rusty Scruby has two concurrent solo shows running.

Chris Ashley from Blue and Green paintings series

in the room for painting
CHRIS ASHLEY
Blue & Green Paintings
01.08.09 > 02.07.09
reception 01.08.09 5:30 > 7:30
room for painting room for paper
49 Geary 2nd Flr San Francisco CA 94108
415.772.0977 Wed>Sat 11:00>5:30

Oakland based artist Chris Ashley has gained respect from art world insiders over the last few years for a unique series of HTML coded drawings he posts daily on his blog. A year's worth of prints from this online body of work was recently exhibited at David Cunningham Gallery in San Francisco. Parallel to this effort, Ashley has maintained a disciplined studio practice as an accomplished painter. Over the last three years he has been working on a formally related group of small canvases, oil and industrial metalic paint on linen, which he refers to simply as the Blue & Green Paintings. We are pleased to be able to present a representative selection from this series. A catalog of the exhibition with an essay by James Harris is available from the gallery.

— George Lawson, Director, room for painting room for paper

RUSTY SCRUBY
Palm Angel, 2007
mixed media construction
74" h x 50" w

Rusty Scruby is at Pan American Art projects Jan 10th -Feb. 14th, the above image is from that show, reception jan 10th, 5:30-7:30pm. Rusty is also at the McKinney Ave Contemporary ( the mac) January 9th through February 14th, reception Jan 9th, 5:30-7:30pm. I am going to try to make one or both of Rusty's shows so feel free to say hi if you see me.

Hairy Hot Rod Blagojevich generative hair particle sketch

This should come as no surprise to regular readers, I have made a hair particle drawing of the notorious Illinois governor Hot Rod Blagojevich!

Hairy "Hot Rod" Blagojevich sketch by Don Relyea
(click to see various sizes on flickr)

This picture of Hot Rod Blagojevich was generated in the openframeworks version of my hair particle drawing program.

O ZHANG @ CRG Gallery NYC

O ZHANG @ CRG Gallery The World is Yours (But Also Ours)
CRG Gallery
DECEMBER 12, 2008 - JANUARY 31, 2009
opening reception: Friday, Dec 12, 6-8pm

For her first solo exhibition in the United States, O Zhang transforms CRG's space with an installation that has at its center images from her latest photographic series: The World is Yours (But Also Ours). While some images are viewed as conventionally treated photographs others have been blown up to well beyond life-size in the form of large printed banners, a format deemed appropriate by the series' historical inspiration; propaganda posters from the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The exhibition also includes a sound installation and a wall mural and is accompanied by a catalog with a short text by the artist.

Having divided her time equally in recent years between the East and the West, Zhang describes the experience of her home country as one of profound ambivalence. In her recent body of work she explores that ambivalence by exploiting the collision of her work's influences and in doing so, she strives to capture the economic and political conflicts in modern day Chinese culture, among them, the identity crisis facing Chinese youth. The title of the exhibition comes from a speech made by Chairman Mao addressing the youth of the nation at the time of the Cultural Revolution.

Zhang creates personal revisions of the propaganda that she grew up seeing in Guangzhou, China. The visual impact of such political ephemera is described by Zhang as that which fades away into the periphery of daily life though imbedding itself into one's subconscious in much of the same way that brand advertising is experienced in America and the West; the message is often forgotten, but the method is not. For Zhang's series she constructed scenes depicting Chinese youth standing in front of various significant facades in China; some with political history and others with more current resonance. In each image the children wear T-shirts with phrases in what is often called Chinglish –Chinese that has either been poorly translated into English or an emerging new form of modified English that can result in seemingly nonsensical expressions, but that serves as a unique record of China's current cultural state of convergence and transformation. The slogans at the bottom of Zhang's images are taken mostly from Mao Zedong's little red book, to which Zhang's exhibition catalog bears a likeness, and from speeches by former Chinese leaders like Deng Xiaoping. Together these basic visual and textual elements combine, reinforcing or subverting each other to suggest various political, economic or cultural meanings, often to comic effect.

In the exhibition space Zhang has installed the same public address style horn speakers that once blared government announcements on the streets in China, though here they broadcast a cacophony of street sounds; popular Chinese music, the sounds of restless youth, shoppers, and storefront touters clapping and fervently competing for passer's attention, -sounds that didn't exist twenty years ago. On one of the gallery walls Zhang has painted in large red Chinese characters: Long Live the Great Unity of the People of the World -a statement that meant one thing to Maoists at the height of the revolution and perhaps another to a generation that has seen both increased prosperity and turmoil from a world more globally connected.

Zhang is the first recipient of the Queens Museum artist residency where she will have her first solo museum show this coming year.

CRG Gallery
535 W 22ND ST, NEW YORK, NY 10011 | T 212-229-2766 | F 212-229-2788 |
www.crggallery.com

Transportation: C and E trains to 8th Ave and 23rd St. or M23 Bus to 23rd St and 10th Ave

originally from [PAM] perpetual art machine

David Crismon -- Dislocated Histories

David Crismon works in oil on metal panel. At first glance his works remind me of something done using XVI32 (link to Dick Cheney meets XVI32), except with actual craftsmanship rather than hacker tomfoolery.

Crismon says, "I want to show the process of recovering and constantly revising the past; to show history being altered into mere data.". His pieces are created using very traditional processes but the glitch connection is unmistakable. He paints classical historical images but recreates them with missing, repeated and incomplete data.

Artist statement:
"History has become subject to re-interpretation, through endless investigation, alteration, slicing and editing. Consequently, various distortions and interferences of information occur. By displacing these images from the past, into the present, my intention is to accentuate these changes; reconstructing various historical works where some information has been duplicated, altered or is missing altogether." - David Crismon 2006.