I didn’t know much about generative art until reading this article. It is fascinating to see how people use unexpected tools to create art.
I liked Amy Goodchilds “Genuary Day 4” that she created using noise for values. The way she used colors and shades within the noise makes the piece look 3D like. It is very beautiful and a perfect example of how she explains noise can be used to create organic looking shapes.
I thought that her p5js Cyclic Cellular automaton that she made using a set of “rules” was cool. The piece looked similar to the growing art of mold, which in a way also uses a set of rules for creation, only they are organic.
I really liked the main idea implicated in automatism in that the subconscious is used as a “random” source for input. As Amy points out in the article, “Thinking about that balance of control present in many generative artworks, between the artist and the computer… perhaps the artist and their own subconscious can be thought of the same way. When we have ideas, where do they come from?” I’ve had thoughts about how we are similar to computers in that we can generate “new” ideas based off the loads of information we receive. However, an idea is never truly “original” as the ideas always stem from a combination of information that we have received from other stimuli. I have watched a video on Netflix about “how to increase your creativity” and one of the suggested ways is using a similar form of automatism. After doing this exercise, you can use the creations from your own subconscious as a source for inspiration. Very interesting way to create art.