Kate Vass Galerie Brings Masters of Generative Art to CADAF at Art Basel Miami

**Jared Tarbell**, *Substrate.IPY*, 2019

We are all living smack in the middle of a digital revolution that is changing our lives with a depth and speed never before witnessed in human history. So it should be no surprise that the most exciting and innovative artists working today have let go of their nostalgia for centuries-old tools like paintbrushes and chisels in favor of computer programming languages and sophisticated algorithms which better reflect the uniqueness of the times that we live in.

Many galleries and artists have been slow to adapt to this digital revolution and are just now scrambling to find an angle for using technology to make their traditional artwork feel more exciting and relevant. But technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) are not “angles” or “trends” that can be poured on top of traditional analog art like some kind of rejuvenation sauce to make them more relevant. New technologies like AI and ML are highly sophisticated art-making tools in their own right. In the hands of generative art masters like Memo Akten, Helena Sarin, David Young, Sofia Crespo, and Tom White, AI is more than a buzzword. Like brushes, chisels, cameras, or any other art-making tool, AI and ML require mastery to produce artworks that transcend “everyday” experience and bring us closer to the sublime.

**Helena Sarin**, *An Eternal Tangle of What Ifs*, 2018

While AI and ML have been drawing the most attention in the last year, generative art as a genre has deep roots that trace all the way back to the beginning of computing. The best generative artists have always been those who are as brilliant in their skills with programming as artists like Picasso and Van Gogh were in their skill with brushes and paint. Generative artists like Manolo Gamboa Naon.

Manolo’s work feels like it is the result of the entire contents of twentieth-century art and design being put into a blender. Once chopped down into its most essential geometry, Manolo then lovingly pieces it back together with algorithms and code to produce art that is simultaneously futuristic and nostalgic. His work serves as a welcome (and needed) bridge into digital art and an antidote for those who see the genre as being too mechanical and discontinuous with the history of art.

We at Kate Vass Galerie are excited to bring the best work by the most respected generative artists from around the globe to CADAF this year for Art Basel Miami. We take generative art very seriously and see ourselves as missionaries helping to educate and bring attention to these important artists to make sure their work is discovered and properly appreciated during their lifetimes. It is our mission to offer only the best work by the most creative artists who are pushing the boundaries of the genre - artists like Espen Kluge, who currently has his first one person show in our Zürich gallery in Switzerland. Kluge’s ground-breaking generative portraits feel monumental and architectural, reminding us of the sculptures of the Russian Constructivists like Naum Gabo and Vladimer Tatlin. But in contrast to the somber character of the Constructivists, Kluge’s work explodes with a rainbow of color and emotion. Though the details of their expressions are abstracted into masses of colorful geometric threads, Kluge’s portraits display the full range of the human condition. This is especially remarkable when you consider that Kluge is working in the genre of generative art, often criticized for being cold, geometric, and esoteric. Kluge gives generative art a new direction with work that is warm, universally approachable, and equally accessible to both the heart and the mind.

**Espen Kluge**, *makes great choices while angry*, 2019

Like everything else in our lives, art is undergoing a massive digital transformation. Generative art best reflects that transformation, and the work on view with Kate Vass Galerie at CADAF in Art Basel Miami is your chance to see it all in one place. We hope to see you there!