Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy • Hacker News Board

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#21

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:04 AM UTC

keithpeter wrote: post #19

yoz-y wrote: post #5

I know art is whatever people describe as art but I can't really get behind this specific kind of creation. To me this creates as much emotion as a gravatar and reminds me of my dabbling in fractal art. Just hit random until something nice comes out.

"Just hit random until something nice comes out." Reformulate as 'have a system for building new bodies, add a little bit of randomness, and have an environment that selects for survival' and you have life.

Life has ecosystems and - eventually - sentience.

This has neither.

To be fair, it's much more interesting than most generative art. Although it's also very influenced by heritage art styles, which makes it less fresh than it might be.

I think the prodigy label is more likely to apply to someone like Raven Kwok. I've been watching him do amazing things with code for a few years now, and he's been consistently inventive, original, and surprising.

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#22

Post by pharrington » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:09 AM UTC

wgx wrote: post #14

I don't think we're being radical enough. I think this kind of art is fantastic, but it copies human-designed art. Let's do things that aren't possible with paint or crayons - let's do multi-dimensional time-shifting video art. I guess we need to do stuff that looks like 'normal' art first, to get people used to it.

In my town we call that stuff "video games."

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#23

Post by userbinator » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:24 AM UTC

It seems that recently there's been interest in procedurally-generated imagery among artists, but almost all completely unaware that the demoscene has been doing the same (and much advanced its techniques) for many years:

http://iquilezles.org/www/articles/raymarchingdf/raymarching...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#24

Post by cpdt » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:26 AM UTC

wgx wrote: post #14

I don't think we're being radical enough. I think this kind of art is fantastic, but it copies human-designed art. Let's do things that aren't possible with paint or crayons - let's do multi-dimensional time-shifting video art. I guess we need to do stuff that looks like 'normal' art first, to get people used to it.

Have you heard of the demoscene? The modern scene is, to a large degree, art as a computer-based audiovisual experience rendered in real time.

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#25

Post by jankins » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:27 AM UTC

varjag wrote: post #9

Another interesting artist in this genre: https://twitter.com/inconvergent https://img.inconvergent.net/

Inconvergent is my favorite as well. The artist in the article uses Processing; inconvergent builds his own tools which I think is cooler: https://github.com/inconvergent/snek

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#26

Post by crucialfelix » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:44 AM UTC

I like Manolo Naon's art, and I am quite fond of creative coding, but something that strikes me when seeing this article comparing his works to Kandinsky, Ernst et. al is that his works are always harmonious, a single idea in action, whereas all these classic artists have conflicts and discord in their works.

They deliberately avoided doing things that were simply decorative or pleasant. (Probably they were avoiding accusations of just making couch and wallpaper patterns)

There is more to experience then just one decorative process at work.

You can feel the artist's presence and discord in the images. Look at the Max Ernst works and ask yourself why he left it imperfect, fading away like dreams or unconscious processes.

Look at the Kandinskys. There is far more information (different design processes juxtaposed), and even after looking at it for a while you still have to wonder how it is balanced and yet there's barely any repetition.

Manolo is always explicit and readable. There is a lack of mystery. Once you've examined the image then you like it, but nothing stirs in the depths.

But he's young, I like the direction, and he will definitely keep developing.

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#27

Post by tinco » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:53 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #23

It seems that recently there's been interest in procedurally-generated imagery among artists, but almost all completely unaware that the demoscene has been doing the same (and much advanced its techniques) for many years: http://iquilezles.org/www/articles/raymarchingdf/raymarching... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene

Demoscene demos are nice, but to me they feel more like expressions of technical prowess rather than aesthetic art. I don't think I've ever seen a demo where the result transcends the algorithm, and I don't think that's the goal of the demoscene in any case. They want to showcase how much technical brilliance they can fit in a couple of KB's.

That's different from this example, where the goal is more like how much expression (emotion/aesthetics) can I put into a single image. And I must say I agree with the author that his work is astounding in this regard. Each one of them feels like a proper artwork, not just someone that's fiddling with a couple algorithms.

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#28

Post by pasabagi » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 11:54 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #23

It seems that recently there's been interest in procedurally-generated imagery among artists, but almost all completely unaware that the demoscene has been doing the same (and much advanced its techniques) for many years: http://iquilezles.org/www/articles/raymarchingdf/raymarching... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene

Well, artists have been making generative art for a bit longer than that. Manfred Mohr was making stuff in the late 60's.

That said, I kinda agree with your point. A lot of the time, it's through ignorance, sometimes, it's strategy, and sometimes, you have people who are genuinely interested and influenced by stuff like this - but it would never come out in an interview, since the interviewer is inevitably coming from the art world.

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#29

Post by cpdt » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 12:03 PM UTC

tinco wrote: post #27

userbinator wrote: post #23

It seems that recently there's been interest in procedurally-generated imagery among artists, but almost all completely unaware that the demoscene has been doing the same (and much advanced its techniques) for many years: http://iquilezles.org/www/articles/raymarchingdf/raymarching... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene

Demoscene demos are nice, but to me they feel more like expressions of technical prowess rather than aesthetic art. I don't think I've ever seen a demo where the result transcends the algorithm, and I don't think that's the goal of the demoscene in any case. They want to showcase how much technical brilliance they can fit in a couple of KB's. That's different from this example, where the goal is more like how much ex…

You're right that many demos simply exist to showcase technical brilliance, but many in the demoscene are starting to trend further towards expressing artistic ability. Some examples off the top of my head:

- Number One/Another One by CNCD/FLT: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=77399

- When Silence Dims the Stars Above by Conspiracy: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=75713

- Aurora by Excess: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=75791

- Along for the Ride by Ümlaüt Design: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=78053

Re: Generative Art Finds Its Prodigy

#30

Post by dharma1 » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 12:03 PM UTC

tinco wrote: post #27

userbinator wrote: post #23

It seems that recently there's been interest in procedurally-generated imagery among artists, but almost all completely unaware that the demoscene has been doing the same (and much advanced its techniques) for many years: http://iquilezles.org/www/articles/raymarchingdf/raymarching... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene

Demoscene demos are nice, but to me they feel more like expressions of technical prowess rather than aesthetic art. I don't think I've ever seen a demo where the result transcends the algorithm, and I don't think that's the goal of the demoscene in any case. They want to showcase how much technical brilliance they can fit in a couple of KB's. That's different from this example, where the goal is more like how much ex…

I think Manolo's work looks great, but I also think a lot of demoscene work is an amazing, highly underrated mix of engineering and art.

Like this piece - https://vimeo.com/25284552

It's funny how a lot of the times the perception of art is that it should look like paintings we've seen in the past. In Manolo's case, paintings of Kandinsky. In a lot of "generative AI art" it gets the Art label because of generative brushstrokes/abstractions that are learned from paintings.

In my opinion art has nothing in particular to do with painting.