{"id":822,"date":"2010-02-14T18:19:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-14T23:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=822"},"modified":"2010-02-15T19:26:48","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T00:26:48","slug":"fractals-that-suck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=822","title":{"rendered":"Fractals That Suck"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"This<\/p>\n

We<\/em> by silwenka<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Happy Valentine’s Day.\u00a0 By the way, as fractal art, this piece, allegedly, sucks.<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s an oddly fascinating feature<\/a> currently on display on deviantART called “People Who’s [sic] Fractals SUCKED!”\u00a0 I’ll let the author, =Fiery-Fire<\/a>, self-proclaimed “Fractal Gangsta’,” explain the general idea:<\/p>\n

In fractal ‘world’ we have a lot of names which are well known, established, the images from those ‘masters’ or ‘wizards’ leave us in awe and amazement. But did you ever wonder, how did they do, when they first opened their fractal program …whatever it was apo or ultra fractal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, there’s the basic set-up.\u00a0 Ms. Fire selects early and recent works by assorted DA fractalists she considers “masters” and posts samples for before\/after comparisons.\u00a0 What’s supposed to be self-evident, I guess, is that the early renderings are unquestionably amateurish, while the more recent postings are irreproachably masterpieces.<\/p>\n

Ms. Fire says she wrote the article to “promote a lot of laughter and amusement,” and, indeed, it does, although perhaps not in the manner she intended.\u00a0 The feature is worth examining because it serves as a vivid, concrete encapsulation for much of what Tim and I have been observing for years about the fractal art scene.<\/p>\n

A helpful beginning might be to look at a few comparisons — even as we wonder if “suckiness” is in the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n

The sucky before:<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Purplerain<\/em> by =Jimpan1973<\/a><\/p>\n

The masterpiece after:<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Monster Julia<\/em> by =Jimpan1973<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s the main difference between the two images? Can’t see it yet?\u00a0 Try again:<\/p>\n

The sucky before:<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Cosmosis<\/em> by *milleniumsentry<\/a><\/p>\n

The masterpiece after:<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Smile<\/em> by *milleniumsentry<\/a><\/p>\n

Personally, I don’t much care for most of the featured art work Ms. Fire has chosen.\u00a0 Nevertheless, there does seem to be qualitative differences between the early fractals that supposedly suck and later fractals that supposedly rock.\u00a0 In nearly every instance, the later “masterpieces” are more slick, more busy, and much more decorative.\u00a0 In fact, nearly every available space within each later frame is filled (padded?) with eye-popping ornamentation.\u00a0 The earlier images, by contrast, are rawer, make better use of absence, and sometimes seem better composed — probably just because they are not crammed to the threshold of overspill with visual information.\u00a0 Consequently, although the later images are better crafted and surely more technically proficient, the earlier images seem to better utilize artistic principles and design elements.<\/p>\n

In short, these “wizards” might be going backward.\u00a0 One could argue that the more the “masters” master their software and polish their craft, the less successful they are in their attempts to be artists.<\/p>\n

What happens when priorities are out of whack?\u00a0 Like when emphasis is placed on “mastering one’s tools,” as Keith Mackay likes to say, rather than on producing fine art?\u00a0 \u00a0Isn’t it evident?\u00a0 As long as what can be done with software is prized over what fine art can be made, the trend shown above will continue.\u00a0 Fractalbook<\/a>, truth be told, institutionalizes such thinking with its “challenges” to adjust existing images and par file tweaking games popular on the Ultra Fractal Mailing List<\/a> and elsewhere.\u00a0 The priority is to see what the software can do — not what individuals can create as artists.\u00a0 As long as this is the ruling aesthetic in our community, our “masters” may eventually conquer craft but will rarely produce fine art.<\/p>\n

As long as one thinks of tools as toys, one’s work will remain more childishly playful rather than masterfully artistic.\u00a0 I suppose only in the realm of Fractalbook can some of these featured “artists,” like LoonyL, rise from being a totally sucking noob to an accomplished grandmaster in just a little over two years.<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

Worse, the “art” being produced, especially in Fractalbook, nearly always must conform to an overriding, popular rubric of what constitutes fine fractal art in order to receive the longest choral threads of instantaneous praise.\u00a0 Surfing through DA’s fractal gallery<\/a> is like taking a trip out to some suburban fractal ticky-tacky<\/a>.\u00a0 Look at the less-than-subtle similarities in some of Ms. Fire’s chosen masterworks:<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Overflow<\/em> by JoelFaber<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Another<\/p>\n

mind reading<\/em> by *LoonyL<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Yet<\/p>\n

Starry Circuit<\/em> by ~depaz<\/a><\/p>\n

\"And<\/p>\n

the red dragon<\/em> by ~grinagog <\/a><\/p>\n

Clearly, a certain look is necessary in order to be proclaimed a “master” in the DA fractal community.\u00a0 The images above are so, forgive the pun, self-similar and spiral-grounded that I wondered if the Fractal Universe Calendar<\/a> had been resuscitated.\u00a0 It’s no surprise that some people feel let down and experience cognitive dissonance when perusing Fractalbook.\u00a0 This<\/em> is what is considered the best we have to offer?\u00a0 And the more it is held up to be so, the more the fractal assembly lines will crank out similar replications.\u00a0 After all, who wants to run the risk of their praise-packed comment thread shrinking by living up to the site’s name and actually “deviating” from the agreed-upon by-popular-demand template for fractal wizardry and excellence?<\/p>\n

It’s a hopeful sign, I suppose, that an occasional, lone voice questions the worth of Fractalbook’s ruling hierarchy. Case in point?\u00a0 This astute comment from *Aspartam<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I dont get the point at all…Some nice fractals in both categories “before” and “after”. The one thing I see is a tendency to be less mainstream ( less overdone, with more use of space and not so many spirals) in the before category. Is it a way to point out a growing conformity in fractal making?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It certainly looks like a cancerous conformity to me, but Ms. Fire disagrees:<\/p>\n

[S]ome of the first fractals are unique …I wouldn’t call them masterpieces not due to shape, but a basic lack of skill of the owner at the time of creation, and yes making the fractals more proper….isn’t main stream, it really requires full understanding of what each variation is doing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s a manifesto to rally around:\u00a0 Make your art more proper!<\/em> Exploration has no place in creative acts.\u00a0 Stifle such impropriety.\u00a0 And don’t feel bad about grazing with the herd.\u00a0 You aren’t going mainstream.\u00a0 You’re just honing your craft and overcoming a “basic lack of skill.”\u00a0 That way, you’ll avoid the stink of serendipity and never have any cumbersome accidents while making algorithmic art — which, as we all know, is grounded in absolutes and demands precise programming and complete technical comprehension.<\/em><\/p>\n

Picasso<\/a>.\u00a0 Matisse<\/a>.\u00a0 Gauguin<\/a>.\u00a0 Miro<\/a>.\u00a0 Basquiat<\/a>.\u00a0 Serrano<\/a>.\u00a0 Ofili<\/a>.\u00a0 How much more famous would they all have been — if only — they’d made their art — more — proper?<\/p>\n

As long as our community embraces prevailing mindsets like<\/p>\n

–only programs like UF and Apo can help one become a “master”
\n–only decorative, spirally, layer-laden eyecandy — like that found in BMFAC exhibitions<\/a>, the defunct FUC, and this DA collection of “masterpieces” — is “proper” enough to count as legitimate, worthwhile fractal art
\n–mastering the capabilities of fractal software is equivalent to creative acts of self-expression
\n–placing work in insular and isolated Fractalbook hidey-holes where social expectations define success based on behavior patterns of false flattery and mass conformity to limited artistic models is comparable to a stratagem of placing work in fairs, galleries, museums, and non-community web sites to be openly seen and widely reviewed<\/p>\n

then the general fine arts world will continue to see fractal art and artists as, at best, non-professional — and, at worst, as completely mediocre.<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

Perhaps the last word on this whole fractal sucking matter can be found in the signature line from this comment<\/a> from Jimpan1973:<\/p>\n

Awsome news article!<\/p>\n

—
\nReal friends are those you can fart with!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, if nothing else, there seems to be plenty of that going on here.<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> Edited to correct a misspelling and to add missing italics.<\/p>\n

Tags:<\/strong> fractal<\/a>, fractals<\/a>, fractal art<\/a>, fractal blog<\/a>, fractals that suck<\/a>, fiery-fire<\/a>, jimpan1973<\/a>, milleniumsentry<\/a>, joelfaber<\/a>, loonyl<\/a>, depaz<\/a>, grinagog<\/a>, aspartam<\/a>, make your art more proper<\/a>, cruelanimal<\/a>, orbit trap<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We by silwenka Happy Valentine’s Day.\u00a0 By the way, as fractal art, this piece, allegedly, sucks. There’s an oddly fascinating feature currently on display on deviantART called “People Who’s [sic] Fractals SUCKED!”\u00a0 I’ll let the author, =Fiery-Fire, self-proclaimed “Fractal Gangsta’,” explain the general idea: In fractal ‘world’ we have a lot of names which are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Purplerain_byJimpan1973.jpg?fit=450%2C338","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":267,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=267","url_meta":{"origin":822,"position":0},"title":"Beware of the Anti-Fractal","author":"Tim","date":"26 January, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know this will probably crack some folks up at first, but bear with me as I tell you about something that came to mind just recently while browsing the big page of \"winners\" at the 2007 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest site.First, let me draw your attention to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 9 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 9 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=267#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3009,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3009","url_meta":{"origin":822,"position":1},"title":"Fractals: A New Medium","author":"Tim","date":"22 September, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I've found a better way to explain what makes fractal art so different than other art forms.\u00a0 The differences are there simply because fractals themselves are a different medium to work with.\u00a0 Fractals are different than paint and canvas or chisel and stone. In fact, fractals are probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3009#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Zon9.jpg?fit=500%2C500&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2848,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2848","url_meta":{"origin":822,"position":2},"title":"Rebooting Fractal Art: Part 3","author":"Tim","date":"4 August, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"What fractals fail to do... You can't make art with them.\u00a0 And we all need our heads examined for thinking we could in the first place. I should be a bit more specific when I say, \"art\".\u00a0 I mean the thinking man's stuff.\u00a0 The kind of image that provokes your\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2848#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Beardsley-peacockskirt.jpg?fit=400%2C547&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5672,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5672","url_meta":{"origin":822,"position":3},"title":"Everything you need to know about Fractals and Art in one blog post","author":"Tim","date":"11 August, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fractals are many things to many people but as an art form they're really very simple:\u00a0 Fractals are a visual medium. Do not be fooled by such simple language and such a simple statement,\u00a0 \"medium\" is the thin edge of the wedge that splits fractal art apart and reveals all\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"322px-Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/322px-Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4633,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4633","url_meta":{"origin":822,"position":4},"title":"Fractal Artists are Deluded Narcissists","author":"Tim","date":"26 March, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"First, let me explain.\u00a0 I make such a bold statement not because I hate fractals (or fractal artists) but because I love fractals and include myself among the hopelessly deluded. A quaint anecdote I came to this realization in a rather unexpected way: through rediscovering the joy of fractal artistry.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/fracto01.jpg?fit=494%2C599&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5613,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5613","url_meta":{"origin":822,"position":5},"title":"Why can’t fractals do what art does?","author":"Tim","date":"2 June, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the years I've come to see this as the perennial problem in fractal art. Naturally there are many other perspectives regarding the \"art-worthiness\" of fractals, among which the most common seems to be that they're essentially no different than any other medium that artists work with. 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