“The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” Sol LeWitt
While at the Recurse Center (RC), I was introduced to the work of Conceptual Artist, Solomon “Sol” LeWitt. Sol believed that the idea behind the art was more important than its execution. His set of wall drawings were defined as seemingly simple instructions that other artists implemented and brought to life. These instructions were detailed enough to describe the work, while leaving enough ambiguity that ensured each piece would be a bit different each time that it was executed.
I created an app called Sol-itude that explored a few of Sol’s works through randomized computer-generated images. Each image fulfills the instructions for its specific drawing while showing the near infinite set of results that satisfy Sol’s guidelines. The app was built in JavaScript with React and P5.
I presented an overview of the project and a demonstration of the app at the June 2019 installment of RC’s Localhost Lightning Talks series.
Feel free to checkout the slides from the Localhost talk, view the code on GitHub, and play around with the Sol-itude app!