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Just as I was tentatively picking up fractal art again, the second HD
crash in two years reduces my computer to an expensive
paperweight. Fortunately I had some backups this time.
After such a prolonged hiatus, I spent some time re-acquainting myself
with the way various things were done in UF, playing with somewhat
derivative things ("Neuron" is a direct descendant of "Flagellum" in
the
2003 gallery, for example) and throwing
around some color for the sheer heck of it. "Constipation", for
example, exists entirely as a
result of wanting to make something bold and colorful. "Wing",
"Verne's Propeller" and "Transmission" were all created to show
exactly what they're showing - the time that was spent on them was to
make them do what I want rather than the other way 'round and thus to
get me back into the mechanics of algorithmic art.
In the second half of 04, fortunately I got the time and opportunity
to play with concepts a bit more seriously (to the degree that art can
or should be serious in the first place). I had the time, for example,
to push a preliminary design like "Quilt" to its final completion
("Quilt3") and even to take a little detour on the road here and there
(i.e. "LargeQuilt").
Finally I got around to playing explicitly with artistic concepts -
like in "Unbalanced", where I expressly tried to create something that
is aesthetically pleasing but
not actually centered or balanced
on the page. Or in "Release" where I tried to expressly use colors
that don't quite work well together. Or even "Dark Blue", where I
spent a good while trying to break every artistic concept I
appreciated myself in other people's works while still creating
something I liked.
On the other hand, I produced the first couple of things that actually
look the way people classically expect "fractal art" to look like -
with spirals and swirls - that actually pleased me artistically.
"Rocket science" is actually an offshoot of trying to reproduce "Up
and Down" (in the
2001 gallery).
And 2004 was a breakthrough year in terms of spread of my work - my
images are now on display in libraries and public offices around the
country, they are featured on CDs and book covers, they are used by
people to make their web-pages prettier and their products more
attractive, there's even been a poetry contest about them. And all I
can say is "cool": that is exactly why I set these free - so that
others can look at them, share them around, build on them, appreciate
them.