Unconscious influences in generative art

Accidentally recreating something

I’ve been working on this generative system for close to 2 years. It’s changed a lot. Here’s one of the first outputs, created after a few hours on an airplane with no wifi.

And here are a few of the latest outputs (ignore the poems, that’s a placeholder right now):

I had an epiphany after seeing this last output. I’ve unconsciously, but very closely copied some of my favorite work. And not in the way that I’ve talked about in the past.

Below you’ll find 3 pieces. All of these were made to be functional. They weren’t made as art. But I’ve loved them as art for close to 15 years now.

The similarities to my last output are striking. Even more so when you know that I did not have these pieces in mind at all while making this. I can’t stress that enough. Yet it’s so clear how they’ve influenced the piece.

Nothing is new under the sun.

What I read, what I watch, where I hang out…I know these things influence me, but I always think about it in the abstract. This is a good reminder that it is very actual. Specific. Explicit. Concrete.

After college I moved around a bit. I always found myself speaking in the accent of the people around me (German, New York, etc.). Not on purpose (nor well). This feels the same. You can’t help but recreate and remix your influences.

I need to stop watching trash and mindlessly scrolling. It’s fun to reframe ‘going to the museum’ or ‘reading a good book’ as ‘creating good art 15 years from now.’

On a more short-term note…I’ve also had some great discussions with friends about how to release this system. In short, it’ll be an evolving series of ~15-20 pieces, each minted individually over an as yet unknown period of time. A live minting or tracking of the journey and evolution of the system. I’m particularly inspired by Lars Wander’s approach to “how you see me”.

Let me know if you’d like to be updated on the auction, but I’ll also announce it here. Hoping to release the first 1-2 in December, but no promises.

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