Sarah Ridgley

Ateliers —  Imperfections

Sarah Ridgley on Capturing Human Essence in the Machine

Ateliers

"We paint what seems to rise, then fall: The light, which streams, untouchable."

Drawing inspiration from Sol LeWitt’s observation that “the most interesting characteristic of the cube is that it is relatively uninteresting,” *Ateliers* transforms the mundane cube into a dynamic expression of the creative process. By breaking the cube into its subsidiary partitions, the algorithm generates a malleable space where boundaries are removed and the artist is free to explore without constraint. Through the play of planes and edges, *Ateliers* tells a story of artistic evolution and the endless pursuit of new possibilities. 

The algorithm builds upon a process I’ve used for many years, where I generate an underpainting and then give the computer freedom to sift through the pixel array and select elements to surface for the final image. The challenge, though, is that I end up with a linear array of points that begins at the top of the screen and runs to the bottom. For this series, I wanted to render the work in a more interesting way, and not simply paint lines back and forth down the screen. After numerous experiments, I had the thought to use a nearest-neighbor type of sorting. This allows the paint to follow a more organic path through the pixels, and furthers my goal to incorporate the human hand into my work with the computer. 

Made with JavaScript and p5js

### Controls
Press [p] to pause/unpause the painting process\
Press [spacebar] to save the image\
Add “&pd=4” to the URL and reload for a higher resolution file

*Ateliers* is part of the group exhibition *Imperfections*.
