Art by Number

SIGGRAPH hosted a talk this evening called Art by Number:Generating Dynamic Art with Flash with presenters Jeremy Thorp of Blprnt.com and Gary Stasiuk of Liquidjourney.com. I am a hack coder at best so I should let the work speak for itself, although I do suggest checking out Jer's DarwInstrument which essentially applies a combination of genetic theory, selection of the fittest and mutant variables to the evolution of a more pleasing musical sound -- yeah, exactly.

I won't pretend that I know what I'm talking about here but I do love the art and the philosophy behind it. Anyone who has read "Chaos" by James Gleik will have an understanding of how complexity is responsible for the patterns of nature; and anyone who is an artist will know what I mean when I refer to the "happy accident". Both of these ideas play a role in Generative Art. It is a matter of setting initial conditions without a predetermined outcome and then observing what becomes of the end result.

There are a great number of artists that are practicing similar forms of generative art. I have been a fan of Joshua Davis' algorithmic creations for years and his recent collaboration with BMW is pretty damn cool. As is the work of Jared Tarbell of which I blogged about a few months back.

But what caught my attention the most this evening was a reference by Jer to the artist Manfred Mohr, who was creating beautiful and minimalistic computer-generated algorithmic art as early as 1969. Considering the direction that we have since taken in our culture and techonology, it is amazing that Mohr has not earned a more recognized place amongst the great artists of the 20th Century.

 

Saturday, March 25, 2006

France through a Pinhole

Jane and I checked out Dianne Bos' Verre et Mer exhibit at the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery this afternoon which showcases pinhole photographs from the Southwest of France. Beautiful and haunting imagery with an amazing sense of nostalgia filtering through the light of the photographs. In fact, Bos writes that "Viewers have said that my work evokes the memory-image that remains for them long after they have viewed a familiar location."

 

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

No More Colouring Contests

It was interesting timing when I first made contact with Catherine Morley (Cat) a few weeks back. I had submitted my site for consideration at designers-who-blog.com and received some very positive and encouraging feedback from Cat. I also became privy to her most recent project and passion: the NO!SPEC crusade.

This hit very close to home. The Canadian design community was recently looking down just such a barrel when the Design Exchange in collaboration with the Department of Canadian Heritage released a speculative national competition for the redesign of the Canadian Cultural Gateway Website. A number of the more vocal outlets (including our own over at Industrial Brand) immediately called foul. In fact, it was the commentary posted over at Slashdot's ideasonideas that served as the final straw for Cat and spurred her on to creating the NO!SPEC movement.

And a movement is exactly what it seems to be shaping into. It appears that this time around, the design community is not only circling our wagons, but we're also packing a hell of an arsenal. What it comes down to is that it is no longer acceptable for a company or organization to presume that it has the right to ask for a designer's time and talent without the guarantee of proper payment. Simple as that.

So be sure to check out the NO!SPEC site, learn more about the crusade, have your say and pass it on to others. "It is time to take a stand!"

 

Monday, March 20, 2006

They Still Draw Pictures

While on a completely unrelated search, I stumbled upon this fascinating website titled They Still Draw Pictures. Apparently during the Spanish Civil War, the Board of Education and the Carnegie Institute of Spain collected the drawings of school children throughout the country and in the refugee camps in France as a means of documenting the experience. While the images speak entirely for themselves, they are also accompanied by a wonderful introduction by none other than Aldous Huxley. Of note, he writes:

"If we look at [the drawings] with the eyes of historians and sociologists, we shall be struck at once by a horribly significant fact: the greater number of these drawings contain representations of aeroplanes. To the little boys and girls of Spain, the symbol of contemporary civilization, the one overwhelmingly significant fact in the world of today is the military plane - the plane that, when cities have anti-aircraft defenses, flies high and drops its load of fire and high explosives indiscriminately from the clouds; the plane that, when there is no defense, swoops low and turns its machine-guns on the panic-stricken men, women and children in the streets. For hundreds of thousands of children in Spain, as for millions of other children in China, the plane, with its bombs and its machine guns, is the thing that, in the world we live in and helped to make, is significant and important above all others. This is the dreadful fact to which the drawings in our collection bear unmistakable witness."

This discovery led me to search further for other children's drawings from other, more recent wartorn areas which turned up results from Darfur, and Chechnya.

Looking at these images, it is at once heartwrenching and at the same time serves as a testament to the universal spirit of childhood; that even in the turmoil and terror of their lives, they found a way to express themselves through the simple act of a crayon on paper.

 

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

New work by Jeroen Witvliet

Jeroen Witvliet sent me a link to his latest project entitled Pan-orama, a collection of paintings that are intended to wrap the viewer in the pop culture imagery and those similar themes that Jeroen has explored separately in his previous work.

No show dates as of yet. For now we must be content with the online version.

 

Monday, March 13, 2006

Edward Burtynsky's China

My own personal experience has taught me that China is a force to be reckoned with. As it careens forth into this century - a century that most have already conceded that it will dominate - gaining momentum at every turn, one is left to ponder how anyone is going to keep a hold of the reigns.

Edward's Burtynsky's photographs, recently compiled in the book Burtynsky - China, document the harsher side of this burgeoning rise and provide a rare glimpse into the hefty price of progress.

 

Friday, March 10, 2006

The Art of the Letter

You know that you are a true design geek when you are listening to Doyald Young recount the moment in 1950's Paris when Adrian Frutiger showed him the early drafts of a font called Univers, and you have goosebumps on your arm.

Last night's talk by Mr. Young, a legend and master of typography and logo design was full of such moments as he showed samples of his utterly perfect hand drawn wordmarks and shared the wisdom of a sixty-year career in graphic design to a packed house at the HR MacMillan Space Centre.

From his book, The Art of the Letter:

I have felt an enormous challenge to justly draw letters with a two-millenia history — the frivolous and the avant garde simply can't compete. The challenge, as always, is to redraw them with fresh insight, while respecting their tradition.

and

Of all the stems that make up a sans serif alphabet, none is more critical or troublesome than the diagonals.

This is truly beautiful stuff, almost Zen in its philosophy. I love the topic of typography for the same reason that I love books like Salt or Zero; books that uncover the entire history of humankind by concentrating on one tiny but crucial element. Typography bears this same relationship to design. It is so focussed and minute and yet it is the building block of all communication and ultimately serves as a microcosm for every rule and point of etiquette that exists in the greater design process. More than anything it is a true craft, that which separates a dedicated designer from the hack with a copy of Adobe Suite.

Doyald Young encouraged us tonight to not forget this craft. The computer is a wonderful tool but it did not replace the pad and pen. Both have their rightful place.

"If you improve your drawing skills," he tells us, "you will become a better designer. Period." Sound advice from a true master.

 

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

The Tilt-Shift Phenomenon

Okay, so "phenomenon" might be a little overstated, but there has been a pronounced trend online lately towards using or replicating a tilt-shift lens effect to make a normal photograph look like a miniature. Sam Javanrouh over at daily dose has produced some really interesting results with it here, here and, with a slight twist, here. So has his friend Shahin. And this morning, PingMag featured images of a "Tiny Tokyo" inspired by the work of Olivo Barbieri.

Very cool effect. You can learn how to do this to your own photos from this tutorial over at Receding Hairline. Here are a few of my initial attempts.

Check out the submissions that we received over at the Industrial Brand Blog for more examples and links.