Art
Topic archive / 245 posts
Eno
It’s still a sad mystery how the Philly screening(s?) of Eno, a groundbreaking documentary about famed musician and producer Brian Eno, came and went early last year without crossing my radar. I’ve met the filmmakers, Gary Hustwit and Brendan Dawes, on various occasions in the past and would have loved to say hi and get eyes on Brain One, the generative engine they built for the film, with hardware designed by Teenage Engineering. As the… See more →
Moving on
We’ve been prepping my childhood home for an estate sale taking place in a few weeks, and my primary task has been getting my remaining unsalable old junk out of there. A lot of it has turned out to be assignments from college: a big stack of portfolios filled with charcoal nudes and various graphic design things mounted on black boards with tracing paper overlays for professors’ commentary. Sketches, marker comps, paste-ups, digital prints. Typesetting,… See more →
Claire Tabouret’s Stained-Glass Windows for Notre-Dame Divide French Society, with a Legal Threat Looming
A project has been in the works for a couple years to replace a number of Notre-Dame’s stained-glass windows with contemporary designs, which has unsurprisingly caused an uproar. While the arguments for and against generally take familiar shapes—whether historic architecture should accommodate modern expression, whether these decisions should be top-down or community-driven—one functional aspect of the kerfuffle caught my attention:
The windows’ light gray, non-figurative glass allows more light to enter the cathedral, achieved via… See more →
That was 2025
I got a speeding ticket the other day, my first in probably more than 25 years. After a decade and a half of not owning a car, L and I reluctantly accepted a hand-me-down Hyundai Tucson a couple years ago so we could be more nimble for the sake of our aging parents. Not coincidentally, I’ve been driving it a lot lately, making regular visits to the memory-care residence my mom now calls home, or… See more →
LEGO Bricks Transform into Letterforms in the International Design Project ‘A2Z’
How great is this project? Pedro Neves, a professor at UIC’s School of Design, invited 40 designers from around the world to create letterforms out of Lego, which were then made into letterpress prints. Despite working within the same constraints (a set of bricks and up to three colors from a limited palette), the variety of results on display is wild, and I especially love the many ways people made use of overprinting to stretch… See more →
Brand X Editions: Innovation in Screenprinting
I’ve been threatening to get back into screenprinting for far too long, so this exhibition of prints pushing the medium far beyond its apparent limits seemed like it would provide a good nudge. Not a lot of the content really spoke to me, but this show was really more about technique, and in that regard, much of what was on display was astonishing. In all my years in the game, I can’t say I’ve ever… See more →
Crafting Personal Alphabets: Calder Ruhl Hansen & C.C. Elian
This pair of presentations from Calder Ruhl Hansen and C.C. Elian examines the fascinating writing systems they’ve created at the intersection of typography, calligraphy, hieroglyphics, cryptography, and algorithmic art. Elian is known for Elian Script, which distills the Latin alphabet into simplified forms that can be combined into words in an endless variety of orientations, evoking the expressiveness of Eastern calligraphic traditions. Hansen’s works include an ingenious system of English syllabic pictographs and a means… See more →
Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads and Hallucinations
A pretty surface-level look at abstract painter Mary Heilmann, generally more interested in how many cool artists she hung out with and galleries she worked with than in what motivated her actual work.
Between the Folds
Constraints are absolutely critical to my own creative process, and I’m more accepting than I used to be of process being part of (or maybe all of) what a creative work is about, as opposed to merely being a means to an end. So I can appreciate the bargain at the heart of origami: A sculptural form is created entirely from folding a single square of paper, with no other materials involved.
I do, however,… See more →
After a long day, as I made my dejected drift toward Suburban Station’s 18th Street exit, I saw a mural cheerfully proclaiming, “My art gives me a voice,” to which I was startled to find myself reflexively responding aloud, “Oh, that’s cool. Mine slowly fucking kills me.”
That Was 2024
My year in review
I was hopeful, if not naive enough to be confident, that enough people were sufficiently fed up with That Fucking Guy to keep him from returning to the White House. But he will, of course, be returning, and while this time his victory isn’t the shock to the system it was in 2016, his popular vote win, a hair shy of a mandate, still stings plenty. The Democratic Party’s subsequent soul-searching might be morbidly comical… See more →
That Was 2023
My year in review
I’ll begin by briefly weighing in on five of the most prominent pieces of the 2023 zeitgeist, at least from where I was sitting. Some cynical vibes ahead, so feel free to skip past this part if you’re not in the mood for negative energy:
- Taylor Swift: Gen Z’s version of Beatlemania is a bit of a head-scratcher for me, since I find Taylor Swift’s music to be entirely unremarkable, but that didn’t stop her… See more →
Martha Groome: Simple and Not
For awhile now, I’ve been speaking to a career coach who also happens to be a veteran art educator, and she’s been a great help as I shift my focus from design to art. One thing she’s been asking me from the beginning is why. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and writing about what I want to do and what I appreciate in the work of others, but why is a more fundamental… See more →
Field Day: New York City
Featuring art from Tara Donovan, Odili Donald Odita, Edward Hopper, Guillermo del Toro, Alex Katz, and Nick Cave
As I mentioned in my 2022 year in review, I’ve developed a new habit over the past year as part of my creative practice—something I call a “field day.” Ideally at least twice a month or so, I’ll get out of the house for the day and absorb things in the outside world. It most often takes the form of visiting museums, galleries, and cinemas, but virtually any activity qualifies, as long as I’m out… See more →
That Was 2022
My year in review
Maude
Leah and I became dog parents early in 2022, adopting a 15-pound, two-year-old Jack Russell / Chihuahua mix. Knowing Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned, we named her Maude, after the Bea Arthur character, who in 1972 was the first sitcom character to have an abortion. Living with Maude has been a big adjustment, but after getting over the initial hump, I’m not sure how we ever lived without her. She loves belly… See more →
I’m excited to be back in Brooklyn this weekend! @kellianderson is organizing what promises to be a delightful holiday art book fair, and I’ll be selling all issues of my algorithmic art zine, Plus Equals, and giving away stickers and postcards. Come say hello and get some gifts for people you want to impress and/or befuddle. ✨
Dec 3–4 (Sat and Sun), 1–5pm 366 Devoe St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 (in E Williamsburg near the Grand St stop… See more →
I’ve got a table at @phillyzinefest from 12–5 today. Come by and say hello!
I’ll be selling zines and giving away swag at @PhillySoapbox’s Philly Zine Fest tomorrow afternoon. Come say hello!
AI and Our Labor Addiction
The level of naivete, if not outright hubris, on display in a recent New York Times article about AI-generated art is gobsmacking:
The resulting image didn’t end up going into an ad, but Mr. Carmel predicts that generative A.I. will become part of every ad agency’s creative process. He doesn’t, however, think that using A.I. will meaningfully speed up the agencies’ work, or replace their art departments. He said many of the images generated by… See more →
Everyone please continue making colorful geometric confections and I will continue admiring them. thisiscolossal.com/2022/10/dinara…
@eleven_ty @pdehaan Evergreen thanks also to @stuntbox, without whom I might never have gotten past being intimidated by the command line and static site generators. They’ve improved my web life so much over the past seven years. 🙌🏻
I’ve been coding plusequals.art entirely by hand up until now (apart from the SVG), but I’m happy to say I’m just about done moving it onto @eleven_ty, and it’s been easier than expected! Big thanks to @pdehaan for his help with the final hurdle: github.com/11ty/eleventy/…
Plus Equals #6 shipping to subscribers today!
Or if you prefer your scribbles all in front of you at once, there is a poster: shop.robweychert.com/products/plus-…
If you’re into the idea of paging through hundreds of systematically generated scribbles, Plus Equals #6 is just what the doctor ordered: shop.robweychert.com/products/plus-…
I’m looking for more ways to share what I’ve learned. If you would be interested in a workshop on creative coding, design, and/or zinemaking, please take this brief survey: forms.gle/He9L6rzudCrty6…
As always, you can read Plus Equals online for free, and if you enjoy my work, please consider supporting it by buying a zine or poster from my shop. shop.robweychert.com
Also included: a crash course in the (relatively uncomplicated!) mechanics of Bézier curves, and some topical handwringing on the subject of AI art.
For this issue, I wanted to see if a series of loose, seemingly spontaneous images could be produced via a rigid system. Spoiler: They can, and I’ve algorithmically generated 562 unique scribbles to prove it.
The sixth issue of Plus Equals, my algorithmic art zine, is out now! plusequals.art/06/
I’m a big fan of Scott, but I think advice like this perpetuates society’s devaluation of creative work. Working some arbitrary job during the day and then using every ounce of your free time to do the work you actually want to do is not sustainable, or at least it wasn’t for me. twitter.com/scottmccloud/s…
Did you know I make a zine about algorithmic art called Plus Equals? You don’t have to be a computer nerd to enjoy it. You can read it for free online and help support it by buying the print edition and other merch. Check it out!
First batch of Plus Equals orders ready to go! 📦🚛✈️ shop.robweychert.com
Plus Equals is also now available in print! Visit my new shop to buy subscriptions, individual issues, and posters. Plus Equals will always be free to read online, but if you want to support my work, buying something at the shop is a great way to do that. shop.robweychert.com
For this issue, inspired by Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, and Battle Chess, I designed a chess set and merged its pieces 57 different ways.
The fifth issue of Plus Equals, my algorithmic art zine, is out now! plusequals.art/05/
If you want a sense of my state of mind these days, last night’s double feature was The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the Hilma af Klint documentary.
I’m going to focus on making art full-time for awhile and see what happens, but if you know of a design and/or illustration opportunity you think might suit me, please do hit me up. 🚀
That Was 2021
The highlights and lowlights of another pandemic year
Let me begin by saying I promise this post is mostly good vibes. Skip ahead if you like, but if you’ll momentarily indulge my pessimism: What a stupid time to be alive.
2021 was supposed to be the year the vaccine gave us our lives back, and while it did for some of us to some degree, its international distribution predictably favored wealthy nations, and the long-simmering anti-vax movement here in the wealthiest nation of… See more →
This time around, I decided to overthink isometric projection.
The fourth issue of Plus Equals, my algorithmic art zine, is out now! plusequals.art/04/
Chase away the Monday blues with 425 compatible seamless patterns! 💫 twitter.com/robweychert/st…
Here’s all 425 tiles hanging out together in one image.
This issue creates a set of 425 tiles, any of which can seamlessly border any other on any side.
The third issue of Plus Equals, my algorithmic art zine, is out now! plusequals.art/03/
“vacation”
Its set of 720 combinatorially generated images is also meant to offer an opportunity for reflection on a turbulent moment in a turbulent national history.
This issue is a crash course in photography, print production, and digital imaging, and its art indulges my affection for halftones.
The second issue of Plus Equals, my algorithmic art zine, is out now! plusequals.art/02/
Here’s a great little crash course in visual storytelling from @LuBellWoo, for writers who want to get into writing comics. youtu.be/mXO1z3HrIF0