In modern times, to criticize an Art piece, we either see if its concept is original, charming, provocating, or worth pondering; or if its craft is astonishing, ingenious, diligent, or straining. But in generative art, there's another dimension: variation.

The core of a generative artwork is the code, the rule, and the algorithm the artist defined to produce the output. When each one is sold and minted, the code takes the on-chain transaction data as its random seed, then generates a unique piece.&#x20;

Each piece from the same generative system exists independently yet could still be viewed as a whole collection. So to see a generative artwork could have two different ways. You could look at each piece individually to embrace its texture, composition, the color. And you could also look at the whole collection simultaneously to see if they create a beautiful harmony.

The work that embraces this variation aesthetic and also achieves the top-level generative art standard is Hevey's Sequence.

::tezos-storage-pointer[]{contract="KT1BJC12dG17CVvPKJ1VYaNnaT5mzfnUTwXv" path="ledger::2193" data_spec="FX-GEN-DATA-002"}

The concept of Hevey's Sequence is super simple: only straight lines. There are no fancy curves or objects like trees or flowers; each piece is composed of only straight lines, but with different colors, white paddings, and lengths to create the variation.

The balance between the individual and the whole collection is challenging. If the variation between each piece is too slight, the entire work would be tedious; but if the variation is too huge, they might feel like they are not from the same system.

![](ipfs://QmPmsKnjpTdjNrFCBgq3zKbpUe72hcuNFEThA13MYdtJbw)

It's just so astonishing that each piece looks very different. You could barely find two similar pieces in the whole collection, yet they are harmonious when viewed as a whole.&#x20;

\[to be continued ...]


To admire or criticize a generative artwork has to consider its "variations." The balance might be challenging. If the variation between each piece is too slight, the entire work would be tedious; but if the variation is too huge, they might feel like they are not from the same system. And the work that embraces this aesthetic the most is Hevey's Sequence.

The Aesthetic of Generative Art - Variations

Written by

Editions

Share

Details

stay ahead with our newsletter