RANDOM ART GENERATOR

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The Random Art Generator is a process that selects a subject for painting by chance. From lists of 3000 possibilities, one is chosen using a toy bingo tombola, this selection is then painted and the process repeated indefinitely.

The RAG lists were compiled using no external form of reference; so every subject on the lists came from my memory. This makes the lists into an encyclopaedia of everything I can think of. Once an item is chosen, an image is acquired that is deemed to be an appropriate representation of the selection and the painting is made based on this image.

Over time, as the RAG paintings accumulate, the hope is that they will begin to shape a body of work formed from my personal knowledge, but untainted by my choice. Taken individually they are simple paintings of single, unrelated, subject matter; but collectively they begin to build into a type of inverted self-portrait, describing something about me by reflecting my impressions of the outside world, creating a pattern from the random elements of my knowledge and memory. This portrait perhaps says little about myself but through the refraction of my knowledge through chance, a different impression emerges: like a photo of a person’s shadow or one of those photo mosaics of Darth Vader made up of hundreds of different stills from Star Wars.

IMAGES

Hover your cursor over the thumbnails below to show the image in the image display box on the right. For a larger view of the image, click on a thumbnail to navigate to the corresponding image page.

IMAGE DISPLAY

INFORMATION

Title	Random Art Generator
Year	2002 onwards
Materials	Emulsion on MDF with wooden backing frame

Paintings	Year	Dimensions
The Herbs	2009	H:22cm W:30cm
Armbands	2007	H:22cm W:29.5cm
The Sound Of Music	2007	H:17cm W:36cm
Noddy	2006	H:20cm W:26cm
Darts	2006	H:20cm W:26cm
Braindead	2005	H:17.5cm W:25cm
Dustmite	2004	H:20cm W:34cm
Ice cream	2004	H:18cm W:13cm
Microwave	2004	H:14cm W:17cm
Cornflakes	2003	H:28cm W:20cm
Jean Michelle Basquiat	2003	H:15cm W:15cm
Christine Adams	2003	H:22cm W:22cm
Levis	2003	H:19cm W:37cm
Morris Dancers	2002	H:13cm W:22cm
Marbles	2002	H:21cm W:26cm
5 Pence Piece	2002	H:15cm W:15cm
Weetabix	2002	H:15cm W:15cm

ADDITIONAL

RAG paintings were exhibited in the Exeter Phoenix in 2007 at the Phoenix Too in Exeter, UK.
RAG paintings were exhibited as part of Ariston (2007), curated by Candice Jacobs in association with NAB 07 at Moor St Station, Birmingham, UK.
RAG paintings were exhibited as part of the group exhibition Random Harvest (2006/07) at the Tricycle Gallery in Kilburn, London, UK, along with paintings by Roger Woodiwiss and Peter Wylie
The RAG handbook containing the complete lists of all 3000 possible subjects for painting can be downloaded as a PDF