A Tribute to De Stijl - "Neoplastic Machinations" - Generative Art
For over a 100 years, the De Stijl or "The Style" movement has offered a philosophy for expressing forms using geometric minimalism or reductivism. In De Stijl, the reductions are guided by the philosophy, and extends not only to the geometry (use of perpendicular lines, and simple angular geometries) but to the colors (primaries with white and black). Artist Piet Mondrian is most often referenced when describing the methodology and constraints of De Stijl.
In this generative art collection, I've stepped away from the primary color reduction, and added gradients that overlap and combine in the output to make more complexity than the style typically permits. In one example, I used white and black to offer something more inline with De Stijl.
The movement or animation are the focus in terms of applying the De Stijl style to generative art. In the examples, movement cycles through the x, y and z axis where the minimalism is expressed by limiting the change to one axis at a time. The simple geometries have been round to reflect the lack of sharp edges in nature which contradicts the mechanical nature of the animation and its forms.
While each unit function independently, the collective graph of the output implies a connectivity or calculated relationship between all the elements. The mechanical reality emerges as an implication guided by the movements of the system, as well as the figures.
To me, De Stajl is about graphing physical reality--taking a complex input and generating a view with the highest contrast of information that the input provides. This simplification works to reduce the noise in an expression to offer only the most concentrated implications for the complexity.
I hope you enjoy this examination of a classic style of modern art made post-modern using computer code and generative art.
Thanks so much for watching and I'll see ya again, real soon! :-)
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Ed Cavett © 2021