Rhea Myers

Blog

  • Reform

    The reform movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
    reacted to Industrialisation in two ways. Traditionalist
    movements such as Arts & Crafts in Britain sought to reject the
    dehumanising lifestyle and low-quality products of industrialisation
    and to return to the values and styles of an idealised pre-industrial
    past. Progressive movements such as Bauhaus in Germany sought to
    embrace the efficient lifestyle and affordable products of
    industrialisation in and to move on to an idealised social future. These social
    agenda went hand-in-hand with each movements’ aesthetic agenda, each
    seeking to improve material and social forms by their intervention.

    Post-Industrialism has led to the rise of contemporary reform
    movements, similarly concerned with rejecting or embracing the
    aesthetic and mode of production of the day.

    Anti-globalisation seeks to return the first world to a romanticised
    pre-branding past with an aesthetic of genuine, unmediated
    first-order experience and social exchange and space whilst bringing
    the third world out of poverty. But as offshoring gains pace the
    anti-globalisation dream of removing the intrusion of branding into
    everyday life and levelling living conditions around the world may be
    realised only ironically.

    The Open Source movement seeks to alter the ownership and rewards of
    technological production and distribution, with anything beyond a
    rough and ready functionalist aesthetic undetermined outside of
    software development. Open Source is a flexible model that can be
    applied to areas outside of software engineering and the media. Anything
    that can be designed or distributed can be open sourced, with
    competition based on quality of manufacture, delivery or support.

    Open Source, then is a model that can and must be applied to the
    production of social and aesthetic forms as well as technological
    ones. Open Source is a redistribution of capital (or at least value), but
    distributed and voluntary rather than centralised and
    imposed. How this will look has yet to be decided. Hopefully without a
    centralised bureaucracy to impose a “Socialist Realism” or yBA-style kitsch
    aesthetic the results will be vital.

  • 100 Artworks

    Some tiny glazed rich pink squares on a halftoned bright silver
    ground.
    A pair of massive rich sunset red rectangles on a bright leaf green ground.
    A pair of massive dark sunset red organic shapes on a rich sunset red ground.
    Some small crosshatched rich bronze organic shapes on a crosshatched rich sunset yellow ground.
    Many large bright platinum squares on a bright shocking pink ground.
    A pale grey square on a crosshatched dark rust-coloured ground.
    A pair of small halftoned bright denim triangles on a rough bright silver ground.
    A pair of small bright leaf green ovals on a rich grey ground.
    Many large rough rich green triangles on a rich orange ground.
    A pair of massive glazed pale black squares on a rough rich blue-screen blue ground.
    A pair of scumbled bright non-repro blue stars on a scumbled rich grey ground.
    A small pale non-repro blue rectangle on a dark denim ground.
    A halftoned rich leaf green oval on a smooth pale sunset yellow ground.
    Some large crosshatched dark leaf green stars on a crosshatched dark cotton white ground.
    Some crosshatched bright shocking pink hexagons on a dark cotton white ground.
    Some glazed bright cotton white irregular shapes on a rich non-repro blue ground.
    Some tiny pale orange rectangles on a scumbled dark neon blue ground.
    A pair of tiny scumbled pale cotton white octagons on a glazed pale sunset yellow ground.
    A pair of massive dark sea green rectangles on a rich white ground.
    Many large crosshatched bright grey octagons on a crosshatched bright platinum ground.
    Some rough bright grey stars on a glazed rich platinum ground.
    A pair of massive bright white irregular shapes on a bright sunset yellow ground.
    A pair of small halftoned bright white circles on a pale silver ground.
    A large glazed rich gold pentagon on a halftoned bright blue-screen blue ground.
    Some massive bright gold triangles on a halftoned bright blue-screen blue ground.
    Many massive crosshatched bright sea green triangles on a halftoned bright white ground.
    Many tiny bright silver circles on a rich khaki ground.
    Many massive smooth pale red stars on a pale sunset red ground.
    Some rich white triangles on a pale grey ground.
    A pair of tiny rich platinum organic shapes on a pale gold ground.
    A massive crosshatched pale black pentagon on a bright blue-screen blue ground.
    Many large glazed rich pink pentagons on a scumbled rich purple ground.
    A pair of massive halftoned bright grey squares on a rough pale sunset yellow ground.
    Many large pale non-repro blue octagons on a crosshatched bright non-repro blue ground.
    A tiny pale silver triangle on a crosshatched bright neon blue ground.
    A rich red octagon on a halftoned pale green ground.
    Some massive halftoned dark bronze irregular shapes on a smooth bright sky blue ground.
    A large rich neon blue square on a dark khaki ground.
    A pair of large rich shocking pink ovals on a pale suede ground.
    Many small pale leaf green squares on a scumbled pale black ground.
    A large rich sunset red pentagon on a pale blue-screen blue ground.
    A pair of dark rust-coloured ovals on a pale bronze ground.
    A tiny rough rich green-screen green oval on a dark black ground.
    A dark neon blue hexagon on a bright sunset yellow ground.
    A massive dark khaki irregular shape on a pale blue-screen blue ground.
    Some tiny glazed rich green-screen green pentagons on a bright gold ground.
    Some smooth pale green-screen green rectangles on a glazed dark green-screen green ground.
    Some small bright cotton white octagons on a crosshatched dark rust-coloured ground.
    Many smooth bright white irregular shapes on a rich non-repro blue ground.
    Many small rich platinum squares on a scumbled pale platinum ground.
    A halftoned pale blue-screen blue irregular shape on a rich green-screen green ground.
    Many massive halftoned bright brown ovals on a scumbled dark sea green ground.
    A tiny dark sunset yellow irregular shape on a halftoned pale white ground.
    Some glazed rich blue-screen blue octagons on a rough pale black ground.
    A pair of rough rich suede ovals on a bright non-repro blue ground.
    Many small crosshatched rich cotton white pentagons on a halftoned dark neon blue ground.
    A pair of massive dark green-screen green rectangles on a bright non-repro blue ground.
    Many tiny scumbled dark red circles on a pale leaf green ground.
    Some massive dark sea green pentagons on a rich sea green ground.
    A massive rich white circle on a rich sunset red ground.
    A pair of large crosshatched dark grey octagons on a halftoned rich black ground.
    Many small pale leaf green ovals on a bright platinum ground.
    Some large glazed rich denim stars on a rich white ground.
    Some large rough pale white hexagons on a rich brown ground.
    Some small crosshatched rich neon blue irregular shapes on a dark leaf green ground.
    A pair of massive glazed bright green-screen green hexagons on a bright shocking pink ground.
    Many large rich black organic shapes on a halftoned rich silver ground.
    A scumbled dark green-screen green hexagon on a pale sea green ground.
    A tiny glazed dark rust-coloured square on a smooth rich neon blue ground.
    A pair of tiny dark bronze rectangles on a pale non-repro blue ground.
    Many tiny dark suede hexagons on a rough pale silver ground.
    A pale black organic shape on a crosshatched rich green-screen green ground.
    Many large bright green-screen green stars on a dark sunset yellow ground.
    Some massive dark rust-coloured circles on a glazed bright shocking pink ground.
    Some crosshatched rich sea green squares on a rich bronze ground.
    Some large scumbled bright shocking pink rectangles on a scumbled pale grey ground.
    Some scumbled bright white squares on a dark sunset red ground.
    Many tiny dark sunset yellow irregular shapes on a pale non-repro blue ground.
    Many halftoned bright platinum pentagons on a halftoned dark green-screen green ground.
    A pair of large rough bright pink stars on a smooth pale sea green ground.
    Many massive scumbled bright leaf green ovals on a pale white ground.
    A pair of massive scumbled rich sea green hexagons on a pale khaki ground.
    A pair of small crosshatched pale white ovals on a crosshatched pale brown ground.
    Some scumbled bright shocking pink pentagons on a smooth bright platinum ground.
    A large bright grey circle on a pale sunset yellow ground.
    A pair of dark blue-screen blue irregular shapes on a rich black ground.
    A tiny scumbled pale silver hexagon on a crosshatched rich purple ground.
    Many tiny dark black triangles on a halftoned rich gold ground.
    A pair of tiny crosshatched rich red octagons on a scumbled bright green-screen green ground.
    Some massive smooth pale sky blue squares on a bright bronze ground.
    A pair of small scumbled bright sunset red rectangles on a rich sunset yellow ground.
    Some small bright white rectangles on a smooth dark grey ground.
    Some massive smooth bright gold triangles on a bright shocking pink ground.
    Some massive rich silver triangles on a bright platinum ground.
    Some tiny scumbled rich neon blue triangles on a dark blue-screen blue ground.
    A pair of massive smooth pale platinum hexagons on a dark neon blue ground.
    A pair of small pale denim triangles on a dark sunset yellow ground.
    Some massive scumbled pale non-repro blue organic shapes on a pale yellow ground.
    Some glazed bright sea green irregular shapes on a smooth pale pink ground.
    Many large crosshatched rich sky blue hexagons on a crosshatched rich green ground.

  • Buzzart Generator

    I’ve written a simple random painting description generator in Prolog and I’m working on getting it compiling as a full-screen Java application using Prolog Cafe.
    The choice algorithm is random, but the choices are structured hierarchically so there is structure to the generated descriptions. I’m going to add complexity to it and start working on non-random choices.

  • 1968

    I found more images for ‘1968’ and decided that the title is right after all (a preview is on my web site as “Objection” at the moment). I’m struggling with the colours, though.

  • Titled

    Last night I realised that Daniel Buren’s stripes are ideal reference for the next set of Titled images. Squares, boxes, zips, and now stripes. Looking at the Buchmann Galerie site today, Lawrence Weiner’s graphic conceptual text might make good source material for the project as well, taking it in a new direction.

  • Open Art Ontology

    For several projects I need a semantic net/slipnet to represent aesthetic concepts for a program to work with. This could be generally useful (or at least amusing) so it could be an open source project.
    Prolog, like Lisp/Scheme, is another language that doubles as a data structuring file format and it is ideal for representing semantic nets and frames, and you can implement it in about five lines of itself. 😉 So this will be in Prolog.

  • May Day

    Smash global capitalism: spend less money.

  • What Is Art?

    I asked ThoughtTreasure (a natural language/commonsense system):

    > what is art?
    >
    ENG art; fine art;
    ANT: ENG art; fine art;

    An art is a sort of media object. Sorts of arts: architecture, the American
    art, the comic strip, the drawing, the graffiti, the museum piece, the Oriental
    art, the painting, the performance art, the photograph, the picture, the
    sculpture, and the watercolor. Other types of media objects: hypermedias, the
    advertisement, the broadcast, the computer program, the dance, the datafeed,
    the film, the genetic code, the mail, the message, the opera, the part of film,
    the part of text, the part of theory, the play, the protocol, the script, the
    station, the text, the theory, and the video.

    An art is a R2 of a leisure activity. Artist creates an art. A museum visit is
    a company relation of an art.

    art creation
    _______________ ______________________
    American art American
    architecture architect
    performance art performance artist
    photograph fine art photographer
    sculpture sculptor

    art paint
    ________ ________________
    graffiti graffiti painter
    painting painter

    Artist creates an art.

    An art. A leisure activity. A museum visit. Leave. Go. A snow. It. A rain
    shower. Rain. Some meteors. The weather. An indefinite ce. A beautiful day. A
    good weather. A sunny sky. A clear sky. A sky coverage.

    >

  • Blue

    A blue screen is exhibited.

    A blue screen is exhibited at an art show.

    A blue screen is exhibited at an art show. The artist, when interviewed, claim they found it like that.

    A blue screen is exhibited at an art show. The artist, when interviewed, claim they crashed an NT box deliberately.

    A blue screen is exhibited at an art show. The artist, when interviewed, claim they wrote a program that colours the screen blue.

    A blue screen is exhibited at an art show. The computer is stolen and the thieves decompile the program. They find it randomly shows an RGB colour on start-up.

    A blue screen is exhibited at an art show. The computer is stolen and the thieves decompile the program. They find it studied several thousand religious images and decided on blue using a neural net.

    A blue screen is exhibited at an art show. The computer is stolen and the thieves decompile the program. They find it was meant to show an animation.

  • The Condition Of Design

    It is not art that is weakened as it approaches the condition of design. It is the power of criticism. All art is design: a competent aesthetic response to a set of isomorphic demands.