Intro
Hi! My name is senbaku.
I’m currently joining the MetaTokyo gallery exhibition on the virtual space service called Decentraland from November 18th to December 10th, 2021.
※1
To celebrate this metaverse event, I’ve decided to have my own NFT auction with 3 other artists from the function draw() collection, and I’m the fourth.
The date of my auction is as followed:
（UTC）
Start: November 25, 20:00pm
End: December 2, 22:00pm
（JST-Japan）
Start: November 26, 5:00am
End: December 3, 7:00am
So I’d like to write a little bit about the work that I created for this event and share some background scenes of the work with you. I hope you find it interesting!
About "Ghosts with a tree"
The name of my new work is "Ghosts with a tree".
In this work, I drew the ghosts gathering and getting together in the shade of a big tree. The shape of the big tree and the color of the sky will change every time you reload the page, and there are 3 colors for the sky representing the morning, noon, and night.
Process
This entire work is written in Javascript using the p5.js library. By writing it in code, you can add some motions or behaviors and make the image change as the browser reloads. That’s the great thing of using p5.js.
Here are some notes of the work
- The algorithm "recursion" is used to generate the tree.
- The size of the ghosts, their face, the location of the sun, and the set of the color choice for the background will be randomly selected.
- I used the noise function for the sky to express it as a series of gentle curves like waves.
Reloading the page will change these parameters and regenerate them. I think that’s one of the fascinating points about Generative art. So, I really want you to try it out and enjoy refreshing the page.
Thoughts
There is a Japanese phrase "寄らば大樹の陰 (Yoraba-Taiju-no-Kage)", and I found this phrase very impressive since I was a university student. And one of my professors in the librarian course often said this to me and I love the meaning of it.
The phrase basically means "If you are going to look for something to help, it’s wise to choose one with great powers."
Source (Japanese): ことわざを知る辞典
By the way, I was curious what the phrase means in English, so I looked it up. And it says "Look for a big tree if you want shelters".
I think there is probably a small difference in terms of the meaning, but I still found the idea of the phrase interesting. It’s a good one as well.
A tree that can support those who need help and those who are feeling fragile or have some breakdowns. A tree that can be a place where people staying there for a while and feeling well can start to move on and try challenges and failures.
With these thoughts in my mind, I wanted to create a work that has a tree as its main theme.
Then, the people who came to gather around the tree are represented in the form of ghosts. Why ghosts? Here is what I think. If I choose humans to draw, the race, size, age, all of the things would be limited by what I draw, so that’s why I chose ghosts instead, not knowing what kind of people are in it.
I’ve also tried various ways of expressing the sky behind the tree. And eventually I found the one that I’m really comfortable with, most importantly, the one I’m happy with.
Here is how I came up with "Ghosts with a tree".
Thank you for reading!
Auction Info
The DateTime of the auction is November 25, 20:00 to December 2, 22:00 in UTC. (In Japan time, it’s from November 26, 5:00 to December 3, 7:00.)
Start: November 25, 20:00
End: December 2, 22:00(UTC)
Ending time in Countries:
🇺🇸12/2 14:00pm (PST/Los Angeles)
🇺🇸12/2 17:00pm (EST/New York)
🇬🇧12/2 22:00pm (GMT)
🇫🇷12/2 23:00pm (CET)
🇨🇳12/3 06:00am (CST)
🇯🇵12/3 07:00am (JST)
🇰🇷12/3 07:00am (KST)
I would be glad if you could take a look at my Twitter account for more details!
https://twitter.com/senbaku
※1 If you want to know more about the "MetaTokyo" gallery, here is the link to the webpage you can get more information.
メタバース上のグローバル文化都市「メタトーキョー」が第一弾企画を開始。日本最大級のNFTアートプロジェクト「Generativemasks」他とのコラボミュージアムを世界へ展開
There is an exhibition space for a collection called function draw() on the second floor of the building, and I have two of my works there!
Ghost, Book, Coffee and Cat
https://opensea.io/assets/0xe8a6564540a7a79bccaac7b9b2c7925c6858ccea/14
Morning glory
https://opensea.io/assets/0xe8a6564540a7a79bccaac7b9b2c7925c6858ccea/13
Here is the Address of the Gallery on Decentraland!
https://play.decentraland.org/?position=-117,-35
(Translated by Ryu-san, TART K.K.)