Mineral #13

Over the years, Julien Gachadoat has perfected working with minimal grids of thin white lines on black paper. With “Mineral” he pushes this exploration further by extending his work with a range of artificial life simulations and distortions. The result is a series of dynamic forms that fit together as a series, but where each image is distinct through different layers of texture and form. “Mineral” uses the structure of a grid as a playground for autonomous agents to wander around according to simple, discrete movement rules. Their local interactions lead to the creation of unpredictable sparse or dense geometric areas filled with lines. The images have many references from spiderwebs to broken glass, but they aren’t based on any specific natural phenomena. The forms emerge through the code that Julien created for building his own worlds.

“Mineral” is a generative art NFT, but the first collector of each in the series will receive the corresponding plotter drawing created in the artist’s studio. Each software NFT includes millions of other images beyond the primary image for each in the series. The software NFT and the plotter drawing aren’t linked together; the NFT can continue to be collected on a secondary market without the drawing.

The image you see on the main artwork page on Feral File is the plotter drawing for #1/30. Compare this image of the drawing to the corresponding software version to see how the software image and the plotted drawing are similar and how they diverge. Because the artists are using a range of papers and inks, the software and physical drawings are delightfully different.

Press spacebar to generate new image
Press ‘g’ to toggle between the grid mode and the final drawing
Press ‘s’ to save SVG file
Press ‘e’ to export PNG image

Dimensions: 50 × 50 cm Paper: Fedrigoni, Sirio Ultra Black, 280 gr/m2 Pen: Sakura Gelly Roll 08 Machine: Axidraw SE/A1