CC: (Collector Curated)

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Rayner works with the medium of computer code and mathematics to express human emotion: an unlikely approach to a heart led artistic practice. However the artist insists algorithmic art is a direct craft, even a modern extension of drawing and painting that can be explored with expressionistic intent.

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Visually, there are few things that express emotion more than the movement and poise of the human form. Social and survival imperatives have led to us evolving a heightened sensitivity to body language and gesture.

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Algorithmic Synesthesia is an attempt to create a visual language from the abstracted geometry of posture and gesture. Reimagining the gestural mark-making of De Kooning and Bacon through algorithmically authentic processes.

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Central to the compositions are voluminous stacked forms inspired by Moore and Léger's cubist figures which press and recoil in convulsed poses. Shrouding and veiling these assembled figures are cascades of color. Rayner envisions these as great lamenting outflows.

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Color in these works is treated like an elemental force. Seen at large printed scales, the uncontrived graphic building-blocks revealed in vivid pigments are bold and unapologetic. This rawness is an analogue of thick painterly brush strokes that on close inspection brings the viewer back to the truth of the surface and the reality of the process.

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At its deepest level all color and form in these works are algebra, logic and geometry. Participants at Art Basel are invited to co-create never-seen-before artworks by effectively seeding the art-making process with random numbers. The result is a kind of collective synesthesia where numbers have a direct expression as form, color and texture, experienced through the artist’s vision defined in code.

At Zero10, Art Basel Hong Kong, visitors will be able to generate unique artworks through an intuitive interface, shown alongside large curated prints from the same system. Participants can select a favorite result to mint to a custodial wallet and collect a small, but high quality on-demand print, generatively signed with the artist signature.

The experience, name, and description of this project are designed for audiences with little or no prior exposure to code-based art. The interactive component helps visitors build an intuitive understanding of the practice and how it connects to the broader history of art made with traditional media. I believe that when work does not obviously appear to be created through an abstract process like code, it can spark a natural curiosity and openness in those new to this form of digital art.