Late Stage Aesthetics (#WIP): Degenerative 5 (MADNESS)

These "Work In Progess (#WIP)", or "Late Stage Aesthetic Aesthetics" (aka "Scatterbrained", (aka "Hairbrained Schemes" (aka "Futurist Manifesto"))) images are a snippet, or an instance in time, of an endless piling-on and morphing composition, that draws on many years and phases of my computer art. It brings together a style reminiscent of my earliest Photoshop works, where I discovered the digital canvas (replacing my real canvas) and explored the workspace as a fertile void for creating images without physicality and existing only as pure .psd. Years later I now draw on all the styles and tools that I've employed since, returning to Photoshop but incorporating 3d modeling, rendering, photogrammetry, procedural generation, and AI, all mashed up and noisily reflecting the noise of our cultural moment. The series stems from a single original file that has been saved out at various stages as individual works, or temporary stopping points, but always continues on, with layer after layer demolishing whatever came before. Things are never erased, just endlessly slapped on top. Hints of the previous states of the file can barely be seen through the dense visual clutter, but every new iteration mostly obliterates its predecessors, barreling on to the next thing and forgetting the last.

— Shamus Clisset

2025 www.fakeshamus.com