Who are you?
Hello! I am AaG, or how my mom likes to call me, Augusto!
When did you start making generative art?
My first contact with art+code was back in 2011, with Processing 3. I did not dive much into it as I was just starting animation college and there was too much different things going on. A couple of years later I started using procedural workflows for texturing and animation, which are somehow a base for my current works for fxhash.
How did you hear about FxHash?
It was through my friend @eduxdux , he was going nuts with the generative work being posted on the site, and we both started wondering what could we do to be a part of it. Then I saw @photoevapo ‘s first mint on the site, created with Cables, a tool that I was trying to find my way into, and had to ask him how he managed to export from one to another. Then it was on to creating…
“Gold in Your Eyes #17” by AaG
“(Land/Sea) Escape” was one of your earliest FxHash mints and reminds me of an old adventure game loading screen. What’s the story behind this piece?
When I was making my good old 3d renders, my goal was usually to pack in the most amount of detail that I could into a piece, and wait for it to render overnight. Now that I had to make stuff to run on real-time for the web, I could no longer rely on those. Now my quest was no longer about detail or realism, but how could I pack the most emotion and feelings with the least density of information? The next step for it was really making it clear that I was trying to bring the amount of information down, by forcing a low resolution evoking old displays.
What inspires your style?
The sky right before sunrise, sounds of water flowing, cloth dancing against the wind, sitting down to read some speculative fiction… I’m easily impressed by a lot of things going on around me. If I had to nail it down to visual arts, at least for the black and white landscapes I’ve created for fxhash, the photographs of Sebastião Salgado. I love too many things to be able to pinpoint one specific direction. It’s even hard for me to say that I have a style. I want to do a bit of (or a lot of) everything.
“Rolling Storms” is a gorgeous work. What were some challenges you faced while working on this piece?
The incoming rain may take many shapes. It can be a gentle giant, slowly coming over and calming everything down, or the pure force of nature ready to wash structures away with it. How could I express this in the low detail philosophy of the previous work? After bringing the details down, how much can I bump them up without feeling like too much? Also, between waves of clouds and the pure white, how could the piece contain all these moods the sky can bring? How could I fill it with texture without bringing in more and more elements?
“Wanderlust” is a very tranquil work that seems alive! What was your goal with this piece?
You know those foggy mornings, when everything seems to be happening slower and quieter than usual? When colours are washed away and all we have are silhouettes and the promise of a day to come? I’ve been locked in my concrete box in a concrete jungle for way too long, and while I can’t go out and live this kind of peace with my own eyes again, I’ll at least try to materialize those needs on pixels.
You also have many works on HEN/TEIA. Are there any that are currently most significant to you?
Good Morning Paradise. I spent I don’t know how many weekends on it. Then months went by without touching it, then back at it for some more, until I told myself I needed to let it go. I was afraid to say it was finished but when i had the guts to release it I felt in love with it, and still am. Another favorite is Claro-Escuro, for all the effort that went into animating the flowers and composing everything. Special thanks to Caravaggio for inspiration on how to light this one.
Both those pieces are high editions (100+) that I decided the most people could have them the better.
What are your goals as 2022 progresses?
There are worlds brewing inside my head, worlds that fx pieces and animated loops are not enough to bring to life. Used my renewed interest for coding to go back into studying unity, and already started making the first steps towards developing a game. It will take time, patience and resilience. Hope I find all of these each day!
Is there anyone you want to shoutout?
Besides @eduxdux and @photoevapo who got me in fxhash in the first place, @cebolander, @wiwsic and @_morbeck_ are all continuously dropping great stuff one after another! It’s great to see more “BRBRs” melting their heads coding art.
Anything else?
From the usual plastic arts perspective, the way generative arts is done might look like forbidden witchcraft from an alien planet. The geniuses on fxhash are amazing at using math and logic to express themselves. I urge more traditional artists to, instead of feeling intimidated, take another look, and ask themselves how a bit of logic and computing power can work in favour of their art. You don’t need to make gen art the way gen art is expected to be done. Computers are one of the greatest tools created by humanity, and can empower those willing to understand it, opening new horizons on how one can create.