Alternatives
This is Alternatives, a portrait series of 100 portraits generated in Javascript. The algorithm draws vectors based on data collected from photographs sourced online. The results are abstract portraits that tell stories alternative to their origins.
Works from Alternatives are available as unique 1/1 editions NFTs at superrare.co and prints at Kate Vass Galerie. Get in touch with Kate Vass Galerie with questions regarding NFTs or prints for this series.
Go directly to the Alternatives website!
History & Process
The whole series was exhibited for the first time physically at Kate Vass Galerie Oct. 30th, 2019 - Feb. 25th, 2020, and a smaller selection was aquired by M○C△ (Museum Of Crypto Art) and exhibited digitally in Somnium Space in may 2020. You can read more about Espen's coded portraiture in his interview with Jason Bailey at Artome.
With gallerist Kate Vass and curator Jason Bailey at solo show 2019.
Back in 2010 I was experimenting with an idea for an interactive logo for my website, the general concept was an abstracted vector logo based on a photo of me that would react somehow to the content of the loaded page and movement of the mouse. I failed at finishing the script but saved it because its algorithm had some unique qualities in it’s way of selecting points in the data from the sourced photo, I saw some potential in it for creating visual structures that looked dynamic and organic, something rarely seen as a product of generative art, which tends to consist of distinct geometrical and linear shapes and patterns. In 2019 I dug the script back up and started to experiment by feeding it portraits I found on the web and discovered that there were some photos that were more ‘favored‘ by the algorithm than others, from there I crudely added some variables for adjusting rudimentary aspects of the algorithm so that I could make it generate many variations of each image, and give me some control of the outcome.
multiple variations generated from same data source
In the process of creating these 100 generative portraits I made a rule of avoiding adding more complex or convenient features to the code, and to curate the random characteristics of my algorithm with only a few parameters. This is because I wanted the lack of features in the script to force me to be creative in the selection and preparation of the sourced photos, it’s also a product of me being impatient in code-writing, always too eager to see results before it’s done. But that’s another story.
The Result
My vision for the project was generate beautiful and interesting portraits that tells their own story, and to find a dynamic and organic form, avoiding the typical “linearness” of computer generated art.