Physical & Digital
Kanbas is rooted in mid-century modern Latin American art, which ultimately brought us to the on-chain digital art of today (and tomorrow). 20th century LatAm artists were ahead of their time. They were visionaries, innovators, technologists, conceptualists, and cultural critics. They introduced aesthetic ideas inherent to the digital art we collect today, concepts related to algorithms, color theory, coding, collaboration, kinetic dynamism, playfulness, democratized modes of making, the meaning of value and systems, and movement - of art, humanity, and society. Our interest in digital art can be directly traced back to our appreciation for LatAm art.
Carmelo Arden Quin - Roa
1950 lacquer on wood 44 x 53 cm (17 x 21 in) “Roa” is painting on wood made by Uruguayan artist Carmelo Arden Quin in 1950. In 1944, the group “MADI” was formed by Arden Quin, who was inspired by his mentor, Joaquin Torres García, the founder of Latin American Constructivism (a theory and approach to artist that held that the study and incorporation of basic geometric [Constructive] structure creates the ability to produce art that is be meaningful [Universal] to anyone who has viewed it). The MADI movement rejected figuration for abstraction, and also proved influential in its advocacy for the societal benefits of geometric art. Artists working in this period embraced constructive geometry, scientific/algorithmic methods, and importantly, chance. Both artists --while seemingly a world away from each other-- incorporate an element of unpredictability into their works. Arden Quinn often used chance operations to guide artistic decisions, introducing an element of randomness, while Cherniak's generative art involves algorithms, allowing for the emergence of unexpected patterns and forms. Read this fascinating article, which outlines the impact of MADI and Arden Quin: Ten Moments in South American Generative Art History. Dmitri Cherniak - Ringer Items: 1,000 Created: Oct 2021 Trained in computer science, Dmitri Cherniak is a Canadian artist whose work investigates automation in visual art through generative algorithms, and firmly believes that both computer code and its output are both creative productions. Cherniak’s breakthrough project was the introduction of his Ringers series via ArtBlocks in February 2021. Each work is designed to be unique, with a limit of 1,000 variations among the endless combinations in which a string can be wrapped around a set of pegs in a grid. In a minimalist design, the value of each "Ringer" is determined by various characteristics, including the number of pegs, layout, sizing, background, wrap style, wrap orientation, scaling…
Eugenio Espinosa - Untitled
Ringers #522, by Dmitri Cherniak 1972 [2016] Acrylic on canvas 120 × 120 cm (47.5 × 47.5 in) “Untitled” is a painting on a square canvas that has been sawed in half by Venezuelan artist Eugenio Espinoza. For decades, he has made artworks that reflect unique variations on the grid. Playfully humorous and seriously inquisitive, Espinoza seems to accept as a challenge the art-historical proposition that the grid is “impervious to change.” His works are characterized by geometric precision, often featuring repetitive patterns and mathematical structures. Both Dmitri Cherniak and Eugenio Espinoza utilize the grid as a structural and organizational tool in their artworks. The grid becomes a platform for their exploration of composition, space, and the relationship between order and complexity in their respective artistic practices. Read more about Espinoza in his interview with MOMA here (moma.org/magazine/articles/571).
Alejandro Otero - Coloritmo
1960-71 Duco on wood 180.3 x 48.3 x 3.8 cm (71 x 19 x 1 1/2 in) They Autoglyphs are a nod to the storied past of digital art, most of generative digital art is inspired by conceptual art, art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object (which is why Sol LeWitt is so often referenced). However, before conceptual art, there were artists who were developing abstract using a strict set of instructions, exploring systemization, and chance, like Kazimir Malevich or Josef Albers, to name a few. In Venezuela in the 1950s, Alejandro Otero developed a system and a set of instructions for a series of 90+ paintings, calling them the "Coloritmos", which he would execute over the course of almost 20 years. All are based on a system of black and white stripes into which colored elements are inserted, fused or spaced, allowing a rhythmic reading of the composition. Otero made sketches for all of the 'Coloritmos' between 1955 and 1960. They are numbered, indicating the sequential order of the conception of the compositions. Sometimes the dates of the sketches and the paintings made from them differ, as in many cases later paintings in the series were produced long after the sketch (as is the case for 'Coloritmo 71a' in which case the sketch would have been executed in 1960, and the painting in 1971). The path from instruction (or, algorithm) to outcome (or, output), is much like the minting process that was developed by NFT artists, and executing today in a most more expedient and automatic manner. Read more about the original Coloritmo series on MOMA's website. Larva Labs - Autoglyphs Items: 512 Created: April 2019 The impracticalities of storing traditional image files such as JPEGs or PNGs on the blockchain inspired the creation Autoglyphs. Unlike many art projects on the blockchain where the actual image files are stored in a decentralized database “off-chain,” Larva Labs took on the challenge to experiment with what…
Maria Freire - Vibrante Azul
1978 acrylic on canvas 120 x 160 cm (47 1/4 x 63 in) Tyler Hobbs - Fidenza #2 Items: 999 Created: June 2021 Maria Freire, a historical Uruguayan painter, and Tyler Hobbs, one of the most celebrated contemporary generative NFT artists, share a focus on series of artworks based exploration of color and form. Freire's "Vibrante Azul," part of her Vibrante series made in the 1970s and early 80s, features hand-painted horizontal stripes and gradients, mimicking digital screens but retaining the imperfections of manual creation. On the other hand, Hobbs' Fidenza project, released in 2021, utilizes algorithms to generate unique, fluid "flow fields" with varying colors and levels of detail. While Freire's work captures the chaos and colors of the pre-digital era with a human touch, Hobbs' generative art embraces a digital, systematic approach. Another historical comparison of "Fidenza #2” --depicting monochrome rectangles— to Malevich's "Suprematist Composition, Eight Red Rectangles," draws connections between contemporary generative art and early abstract movements, highlighting the evolution of artistic techniques across different eras. Analyzing these artworks side-by-side reveals both the enduring principles of color exploration and the transformative impact of technology on artistic expression.
Lygia Clark - Bicho
Bicho – Pancubismo Pq (Version II) 1963 16 aluminium numbered elements 35 x 33 x 37 cm (13 3/4 x 13 x 14 1/2 in) In the 1950s, the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark made a series of groundbreaking tabletop-size sculptures that are called "Bichos". They were crafted from steel and aluminum and composed of a dozen or so different geometric planes hinged together, enabling them to be folded, turned, opened, and closed. Notably, the Bichos have no given form; instead, their form emerges through the process of someone holding the sculpture, folding and unfolding the object so that the form is unique to whomever encounters it. Both Muybridge and Clark challenged traditional artistic forms through technological means—Muybridge through the early use of photography to dissect motion, and Clark through the dynamic engagement and transformation of sculptures. Their works exemplify a fusion of art and technology, pushing the boundaries of representation and interaction in their respective eras. Learn more about Lygia Clark's Bichos with curator Peter Eleey here (youtube.com/watch?v=7Cq2OVD7dvA&t=8s). Paperwork, by Ana Maria Caballero Items: 100 Created: Nov 2023 Paperwork is a generative AI collection of digital paper sculptures carved from individual emotional responses to the spoken-word poetry of Colombian-American artist Ana María Caballero. Throughout 2023, Caballero performed her poems in numerous venues across the world, inviting audience members to write down one word in response to her verse on sheets of paper. She gathered these slips of paper —these distilled, private moments of connection— and used each word to actuate Paperwork’s compositions, honoring paper’s sculptural eloquence and materializing lived experiences via the digital form. The emotionally and psychologically-charged artworks mirror Clark's desire for abstract art to be more subjective and personal.
Julio Le Parc - Ensemble couleur
Ensemble couleur, by Julio Le Parc acrylic paint on canvas 3 paintings, each 100 x 100 cm (39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in) Snowfro - Chromie Squiggle Items: 10,000 Created: Oct 2021 Chromie Squiggles by Mexico City-born artist Erick Calderon aka Snowfro, was the first on-chain generative art project to launch on Art Blocks in November 2020. The 10,000 output collection has since become an iconic symbol of creative innovation and on-chain generative media. The project is lauded for its technological ingenuity—algorithmic outputs, fully on-chain—and its visual simplicity, which is equally rife with aesthetic insights that can be tied to the history of Kinetic and Op Art, movements with strong roots in Latin American modernism. Julio Le Parc represents a generation of artists who laid the groundwork for today's generative art movement. Born in Argentina in 1928, Le Parc studied with Lucio Fontana in Buenos Aires before spending formative years in Paris in the 1960s, where he encountered other Latin American modernist artists at the forefront of the Op Art and Kinetic Art movements. These artists sought dynamic visual effects created through measured systems of color, form, and ensuing variations. He also founded the pioneering Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel group, or GRAV, along with Vera Molnar. GRAV consolidated the notion of the sole artist’s identity into a collective group which prioritized science and technology in art over expressive emotion and intended to re-establish the complacent relationship of the viewer to the artwork. Molnar would go on to work directly with computer-generated art, however Le Parc worked generatively in his own way.