Some thoughts on "Nowhere Else"

I find it difficult to start a project. I never have much of a plan or idea before I start coding. I'll look online for some inspiration, often scrolling through Twitter, Reddit, or wherever, looking for something to inspire me. A piece of art, an interesting pattern or design, or a photo... I don't sketch anything out by hand first.

For this project, looking back, the main inspiration came from visiting art museums this past Summer in New York. With a couple of fx(friends), I visited the Met, MoMA, and the Guggenheim. I had been to some of these museums before, but that was before I began working on generative art. I always had an appreciation for the art but never invested much more thought into it. Seeing them again after two years of creating generative art, I felt like I had a much better understanding and appreciation of the artists and their works. I was especially drawn to Gego's beautiful wire sculptures and watercolor drawings. Her work resonated with me, and the wire, geometric sculpture look stuck with me. It's the idea I maintained throughout this project. I wanted to create something unique but also had a clear influence.

I have also been incredibly influenced by the work and advice of Jadé Fadojutimi. I somehow stumbled on her work online, and her use of strong, unapologetic colors has stuck with me. I find her work and practice inspiring, as well as her advice to other artists to not be afraid of incorporating their personalities, inspirations, and interests into a piece. I enjoy looking at and creating geometric work that uses basic shapes to create something more sophisticated. I also enjoy bright, vibrant colors and a sense of depth and movement in a piece. I've tried to bring those ideas into this work, as well as some direct influences from other traditional and generative artists.

I feel that this project is the first that I have felt very intentional about. I have been creating generative art for about two years, but at the beginning, I felt like I was playing with code to create images on my screen, without the mindset of using code to create "art". I feel that with "September", I was not as intentional with my work. I think I was lucky to create something that I liked through trial and error. I'm very happy with how it came out, but looking back, there were a lot of decisions I made "just because", without a clear goal or reason behind them. For this project, I made lots of mistakes where I had to power through to find a solution or revert to a previous branch. Just a few weeks ago, I was looking back through older outputs from October I had saved and realized what I was currently working on was straying from my original explorations. I decided to undo about a month of work because it was easier to reset from there. I don't regret the branches and ideas I explored those last few weeks, but ultimately they were not as interesting or unique as what I had been working on before. I think the project is much stronger now because I was able to bring back some of those better ideas from that month of work and incorporate them into the original idea. My wife has been an essential part of reviewing my work and giving me feedback. She has a wonderful eye for composition and color and is a great help in keeping my ideas focused. I'm very grateful for her help and support, as well as for entertaining me by talking about generative art constantly for the past two years.

I hope this write-up gives a little insight into my process and some ideas behind this project. I'm happy with how it has turned out, and to see people already exploring its potential outputs! It brings me a lot of happiness to see people enjoying my work and encourages me to keep creating. There's nowhere else I'd rather share this work :)