A New Nature
by Mark Dorf
A New Nature by Mark Dorf
Generative artist Mark Dorf shares NFT excerpts from an upcoming video installation titled A New Nature at the Museum für Gestaltung that will run as a part of Digital Arts Zurich later this month
"A New Nature" contemplates the future of what is commonly referred to in Western culture as Nature through scenes that are both cautionary and celebratory. The works in A New Nature do not depict a future that is a return to the pastoral and bucolic landscape, but neither is it a future of doom and gloom. Instead, these works reveal environments that are augmented with technology, for better or worse, and that are full of mystery suggesting and normalizing images of a strange hybrid, and at times abject, planetary system of technology-organisms.
These new works are derived from a longer form video installation A New Nature are debuting at the end of the month at @museumgestaltung with @daz_digitalartzurich
01 A New Nature
⚭ Nature is just a word that is assigned to a place over there. Theres nothing over there that is not over here
✧ Tell me what you see. It slips just out of reach with the very act of grasping it.
☉ Breathe life into this world. There is nothing new here, we have all been here forever.
![Antithesis-Jana-Styblova-[xs].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e33409d210b8a4c7e973c9/1634133535266-WINPO7M7OCJUS1MWLQMA/Antithesis-Jana-Styblova-%5Bxs%5D.jpg)
![Us-In-The-Ocean-Jana-Styblova-[xs].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e33409d210b8a4c7e973c9/1634133536971-EBWL4W0JBZJ0I502IG77/Us-In-The-Ocean-Jana-Styblova-%5Bxs%5D.jpg)
Digital Art from Jana Stýblová
Analogue, abstract and grotesque artist Jana Stýblová shares her vision
“Each piece I create embodies the goal of merging the analogue/physical and digital. I begin a new piece by first making a painting on canvas with acrylic paint, spray paint and occasionally other chemicals. While the paint is still wet and malleable, I photograph the canvas both regularly and at a macro scale, revealing some of the more alien details the paint may create by interacting with itself. Once I have a set of sometimes hundreds of photos, I select the ones that strike me as most otherworldly or ones that would work well as a landscape foundation.”
![Our-Veins-Look-Alike-Jana-Styblova-[xs].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e33409d210b8a4c7e973c9/1634134086348-YYVA54F3IV3TROSVU2IM/Our-Veins-Look-Alike-Jana-Styblova-%5Bxs%5D.jpg)
![Where-The-Rivers-Flow-Jana-Styblova-[xs].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e33409d210b8a4c7e973c9/1634134098631-6RSPM73G3SE94Y9413JJ/Where-The-Rivers-Flow-Jana-Styblova-%5Bxs%5D.jpg)
”I bring these photographs into Photoshop and begin building, layering, cutting and seaming—slowly playing with density to reveal something that doesn't look paint-like at all. Often I will add gradients at this stage before running this preliminary collage through a pixel sorting bit of code in Processing. Pixel sorting is a technique invented by Kim Asendorf in 2010—I like to work with analogue methods, but have a deep respect and awe of code, combining the two in the NFT / Digital Art space is what, to me, solidifies the art as a digital work, rather than physical. “
”This process repeats and can go on for many hours until I feel a sense of completion, or indeed, perhaps a bit of transportation. You can read a bit more here: https://janastyblova.com/a-nebula “
Monumentalis by Paul Green
Paul Green, a digital artist based in Moscow, creates the "Monumentalis" collection - an NFT project with a unique playable model for collecting strange figurines. As he explains, each "Monumentalis" is a reflection of our everyday life in emotional or physical embodiment. Each piece in this collection is hand-crafted one by one and offered as a one-of-a-kind piece.
Seven Shades
Visual storytelling by Nikolina Petolas
Nikolina is a Croatian visual artist, working in the realm of contemporary surrealism.
Overgrown
With elements of subtle allegory, she expresses her eerie visions through screenshots of the imaginary story, by guiding a viewer on a journey through visionary interpretations of her fictional worlds.From dreamlike landscapes and fantasy scenery, to animal characters, as well as strange creatures and environments, she uses the observation of inner conflicts and questions that arise from them, as a dreamy and vivid example of her personal experience of the world.
Her surreal worlds were noticed by Salvatore Ferragamo, for whom she worked as a sole concept and visual development artist, creating visuals for the latest campaign Storie di Seta. Visual interpretations of animal fables with profound detailed compositions in her signature 'Tale of the Blue Pear' series have been recognized by private collectors worldwide and luxury venues such as Seabourn and Marriot autograph collection.
Nikolina's work has gained multiple international awards and has been shown in numerous international exhibitions as well as several art projects. Her work was exhibited globally, in galleries and museums of Europe, USA and Asia, most recently being exhibited at an individual exhibition in Paris. Her art is also represented in various books, magazines and publications, including the prestige "Lexikon phantastischer Künstlerinnen" by Gerhard Habarta.
Wittgenstein’s cabin by Dionisio González
“In his latest series, titled Wittgenstein’s cabin, visual artist Dionisio González (more here) envisions a group of amphibious dwellings set on the Norwegian fjords. the project draws from Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s secluded hut, planned and built in 1914 on the steep shore of lake Eidsvatnet in Skjolden, beside the Sognefjord. Designed as prototypes for thought, the amphibious dwellings act as reflections of the world while in turn, they are reflected on the mirror of the waters.” , read more on designboom
Surreal art of Victor Fota
Victor Fota is a young visual artist basing in Bucharest, focusing mainly on oil painting, generating most of his ideas on the canvas with the help of digital tools for conceiving the designs.
Recently, he began the journey of Crypto Art, recreating some of his best analogue works into digital-enhanced versions of the original oil paintings. The digital augmentation of the paintings is executed using digital software to improve or animate the still image. The 1/1 NFTs can be found on SuperRare.com, Foundation.app and a collection of DESIGNOIDs on MakersPlace.com
Caramurú Baumgartner
Caramurú Baumgartner is an award winning visual artist from Brazil. As an alchemist mixing colors and elements, and a wizard casting lights and shades, his legacy as a visual artist reveals a unique, intimate, surreal and psychedelic place. The junctions of saturated colors, fluid forms, lights and lattices leads you to a new, ethereal and fertile universe, where the fauna and flora sensually merge, where the artist lives.
Tanasan Kanakasem: Girl Without Smile
Bangkok-based artist Tanasan Kanakasem explores the idea that girls might bottle up pain, rage and other wild feelings underneath pretty faces. In his recent series Girl Without Smile he sums up that ideas using colour, objects and wild animals to symbolise the needs and wild desires they may be keeping hidden inside his characters.
Objects of Desire by Pleun Van Dijk
In her most recent work, Objects of Desire, van Dijk investigated the increasingly intimate relationship between humans and technology that may eventually lead to blurring of boundaries between the two.
To illustrate the concept, the designer, invented a three-step method.
In step one, the first dataset was curated containing both realistic (representing human genitals) and abstract sex toys. These toys are objects we by nature have a very close physical relationship with and could also be seen as an example of (sexual) objectification.
In step two, a pre-trained machine learning (ML) model was used to generate a collection of 1,000 new, non-existing shapes based on the initial dataset.
In step three, the generated images were curated and translated back into a three- dimensional physical reality. This resulted in a series of undefined, anthropomorphic, human-like sculptures.
The Objects of Desire design project encourages us to critically evaluate the fundamental questions and ethical implications related to the rapidly evolving relationship between humans and technology. It ‘confronts the viewer with a speculative scenario and leaves them to decide whether they perceive the outcome as human, non-human or something that exists in between.’ (van Dijk, 2021)
Photo credits: Nahmlos
Concept art of Arseniy Chebynkin
Russian digital artist Arseniy Chebynkin creates outstanding backgrounds and illustrations for animations and TV-production
Stefan Große Halbuer
Stefan is a graphic designer and digital artist from Münster, Germany. He's been working as a freelancer for international corporations, NGOs and magazines as well as for musicians and startups, for almost 10 years.
CYCLE OF THE SHROOM is Stefan's new baby in the NFT world, showing his love for everything around cyberpunk culture
Architectural drawings by Abi Daker
Abi Daker is a British illustrator who lives and works in Cyprus. She works extensively on large scale print projects as well as editorial and book commissions. In 2016 her drawing of the Houses of Parliament was used as the illustration on the British five pound note. Abi recently joined NFT movement with her works available on Blockchains of Ethereum and Tezos
Peyman Naderi
Peyman Naderi is a young Persian contemporary fine art and portrait photographer. As he began his career as a professional photographer, his first motto was to create original and creative photos through which his own perceptions of the world and art could be understood. Also, he is eager to represent a unique way of looking at various concepts in the world.
Jeanne d'Arc
Ash White
UK based multi-disciplined published artist Ash White utilising code and math to create digital art. We adore his transformation from contemporary painter and collage artist to NFT digital creator recently
Carpoolers by Alejandro Cartagena
Carpoolers is an acclaimed documentary photo series and self-published project from Mexican photographer Alejandro Cartagena started in 2011. Concerned with the neoliberal policymaking in the city of Monterrey and rapid housing expansions on the outskirts of the city, Cartagena critically documents the fissures between blue-collar urban centres and the lack of infrastructure connecting the suburban overgrowth.
“The collection of The 50 Carpoolers depicts laborers in México captured from an overpass, commuting between distant suburbs and urban centers. Like much of my work, this project comes from a desire to tell the story of the dramatic environmental, economic, and demographic changes playing out in my home city of Monterrey. This series has circulated the internet since 2011 and has been exhibited widely around the world”
“From the vantage point of a highway overpass, the photographer has vividly and repetitiously documented the contract workers and tradesmen who hitch rides in the back of the trucks that will take them to that day’s worksite. As many as eleven labourers are seen at a time in open beds scattered with equipment and commercial goods; many sleep side-by-side, perhaps as strangers to each other. Provoking in its apparent ubiquitousness, this fiercely conceptual series raises concerns regarding the failure of urbanism and neoliberalism in Mexico; its ecological ramifications; and social and economic stratification—within the confines of the image itself even the driver and owner of the vehicle, concealed in the cabin and unseen to us, holds a superior status to the labourers who are exposed to the elements.“
“The way the worker is lying on the bed of the truck with the old wood really gives the sense of the invisibility of the people that build our cities. Having worked in the service industry for years myself...in hotels and restaurants, traveling for hours in buses, that invisibility was latent and a burden that is not to be taken lightly. It was also a space to build an idea of the life I wanted. 10 years, traveling 3-4hrs a day back then, has made me very thankful of my life today”
The Word Search Series by Graham Kelman
The Word Search Series by artist Graham Kelman investigates concepts of contradiction and loss of meaning through the use of a single sculpture made from many individual sculptures. Each viewer is invited to excavate the hidden poem(s).
The artwork is designed to evolve into new works, where each glyph module moves on a system of hidden rails. New poems are composed on a regular basis.
“n 2017, I had the idea to create a modular artwork composed of smaller sculptures that could be rearranged to create new pieces. Working with @jennyholzerstudio influenced me to do something a little more direct, thinking about the alphabet as a kit of parts. I’ve been interested in the intersection of Graphic Design and Architecture, and this project was a good opportunity to explore that.
Little did I know that it would take me almost four years to complete the series. This is the first work I completed this year.
Something else was happening during this time. It seemed like words in culture were increasingly losing their power to convey a common meaning. Two different people could read the same thing and draw wildly different conclusions, almost predictably, based on their pre-affiliated tribe.
Perhaps, I could create a series of word-search puzzles that could celebrate misinterpretation, contradiction, and loss of meaning, where everybody could draw their own conclusion and choose something they could be upset about, together. I wanted it to appear beautiful and almost decorative at first, and really force people to dig out the little depressing poems inside.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really think too deeply about what it would take to conceive, design, and produce 26 custom individual sculptures, fabricated hundreds of times to create a variety of language and meaning. Each letter was a meticulous mini-project.”
Illustration and Art by Anthony Ventura
If Viktor Vasnetsov ever joined pre-raphaelites, the art of Anthony Ventura can be their logic heritage. “A trip into the world of Anthony Ventura is a memorable one, bringing you through pop culture, horror and earth grounded fantasy turned Greek tragedy.”
Surreal art of Camibus
Transylvanian artist Camibus is a visual artist that explores the aesthetic of the human figure, using surreal elements to depict psychological and philosophical themes.
Alexandre Souêtre
“Alexandre Souêtre is a photographer and art director currently living in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Paris, France. Alex has a minimalist approach to design and an immaculate eye for tone, often playing with scale to suspend lone figures in mid air or to encase them against a clean, concrete background.”
“Alex’s work is at it’s finest when depicting anonymous silhouettes skating alone against remote urban backdrops. The graphic lines, sweeping shadows and graffiti elements that he chooses to include in his images help to create an atmosphere and an energy that both excites and intrigues. It is because of this that you don’t need to be a fanatical skate fan to appreciate his images”
