LookingOutwards-05

Landscape by Afanassy Pud

Alexia Forsyth

Pud is a Russian contemporary artist. His work has been displayed in over twenty exhibits since 1970. His piece “Landscape” is a three-dimensional tapestry showing a colorful collection of trees and hills. I really admire the traditional aspects of the landscape that are stylized with more modern ideas. Afanasy Pud transforms the common image of trees and hills into a psychedelic visual experience. The artist considers himself a scientist and programmer. He used Corel and Photostyler software to create his pieces. More recently, he favors CorelPhotopaint and FractalDesignPainter as his main source of composition. His artistic sensibilities are demonstrated through the overlaying of colors and odd patterns onto a plain image.

Link: https://digitalartarchive.siggraph.org/artwork/afanassy-pud-landscape/

Blog 05 – 3D Computer Graphics – srauch

A work of 3D computer graphics I find really interesting is a collection of digital furniture called “The Shipping”, designed by Argentinian architect Andrés Reisinger. (Here’s the collection on his website.) The collection includes ten pieces of furniture, each meticulously 3D designed and rendered, and each of which were auctioned off as NFTs for as much as $70,000. The digital furniture can be placed into any digital environment, such as the metaverse or even Minecraft. Five of the ten pieces will be produced physically as well, and one chair – the Hortensia Chair, originally deemed “impossible” to recreate in physical reality – has been put into physical production.

Digital furniture design like this pushes the imagination. Different mediums afford different creative processes, so the opportunity for furniture designers to work in a world without traditional constraints opens up the door to completely new creative mindsets. More than that, it changes the way artists can think about what work is physically possible. Beyond just creating “impossible” digital furniture, the ability to be creative in a digital environment allowed Reisinger to make real furniture that was once considered to be impossible. It’s exciting to see how access to 3D modeling and rendering will continue to develop artistic fields such as furniture design in the future.

Looking Outwards 05: 3D Computer Graphics

Alexey Kashpersky – ‘Ebola Virus’ (2013)

I was really awestruck by Alexey Kashpersky’s 3 dimensional rendition of Ebola virus. Something that attracted me towards learning more about it was perhaps its form and vivid color scheme. After reading more about it I really liked how the artist approached this 3 dimensional work in 2 dimensional form first by sketching it out and learning the natural shapes and behaviors of it. At first glance I thought this was something that looked peaceful and a visual delight, until I realized it was a rendition of a deadly virus, I also read that it was the intention of the author to do the same. The artist intentionally decided to paint the image of a herbivore disguised predator for the ebola, I also really like the analogies he used to compare ebola with a pickpocketer. I do have some idea of how vray and after effects work as that is where this form was modeled, however, I am not sure of the advanced algorithms or codes used to model this piece. The author’s ideology behind the piece was making a portrait of something dangerous in a pleasant form, which is exactly what I felt when I first saw that, so I do feel that the artist’s intentions manifest exactly how he planned it.

link

LO-05: Human After All

Human After All is a series of photographs that depict everyday people through their circulatory systems. A collaboration between photographer Jan Kriwol and Markos Kay – a digital 3D graphics bio-artist and programmer, these photographs not only explore the interaction between the fragile human body and its rigid environment but also challenge our exterior differences (ie. our skin color) by stripping the subject down to the barebones of human anatomy. This very subject matter is exactly what I admire about this series of work- deep inside, our bodies are so simple and similar, yet so complex. To generate this work, Markos Kay implemented an algorithm that generated 3D circulatory veins and arteries within the constraints of the human body as well as the given environment – this likely involved the use of 3D interactive programming software such as unreal engine and, on the backend, code that mimicked the way our veins spread within our bodies, repeating itself as it generated random patterns that simulated the flow of blood. Markos Kay’s works often blur the lines between art and functional science; Human After All demonstrates this very skill.

Human After All, Jan Kriwol & Markos Kay, 2017

In the “House of Gods” by Adam Martinakis, he explores the supernatural balance between heaven and earth through 3D art. I admire the solid shapes and colors, light in juxtaposition with darkness, and Greek mythology influences. Each statue, depicting ancient gods, is crafted very delicately with the emotional intensity of a real marble figure. Adam Martinakis’ work revolves around the intersection of humanity and the unknown- through 3D image rendering, digital sculpture/video, and computer-generated visual media. I appreciate the ambiguity of his art, which produces a wide variety of interpretations. As a member of the Greek Chamber of Fine Arts, and trained in ceramics/architecture in Athens, Martinakis utilizes this expertise in order to craft a new technological perspective on history. In the “House of Gods”, the art combines themes of realism and industrialism (through ladders, stairs), and mythical (unique textures, glowing artifacts, gods.)

Hannah Wyatt

Blog 5

I love this project because of how absurd the music is. I think people put a lot of stake and emotion in music, but a computer doesn’t. Despite this, I think people will always find patterns or emotion in sounds that are utterly random. A computer can make music that a human would never dream of, because we want things to make sense. Computational music doesn’t make sense (or at least the stuff I have seen so far).

The project I looked at was Playable Decagons. The creator had a visual of an octagon and corresponded things like its orientation and size to specific musical notes. When the decagon is manipulated it will play a funky song of mashed together notes at different tones and timings. It sounds horrendous from a music theory standpoint, but I couldn’t help dancing along to the weird sounds halfway between spaceship violin and ocean roar.

Evette LaComb