“I want to explore art from the perspective of science and technology.”
Graduated from the Institute of Computing Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Reva is a freelance algorithmic artist and a computer graphics engineer based in Beijing. Her works explore algorithmic art, NFTs, and creative programming, real-time interactive installation, and GPU shader programming. Before becoming an artist, she was an R&D engineer for the China Film Group and a partner of a VR and AR company.
Reva毕业于中国科学院计算技术研究所，是一名自由算法艺术家和计算机图形工程师，现居北京。她的作品探索了算法艺术、NFT 和创意编程、实时交互式安装和 GPU shader编程。在成为艺术家之前，她是中影集团的研发工程师，也是一家VR和AR公司的合伙人。
Later, her interest in exploring the relationship between technology and art drove her to become an artist in 2018. Since then her works have been exhibited at the Art window project of CHAO Hotel in Sanlitun Beijing, BDMG Life Art Festival, Gap C Gallery+ Art Exhibition, and has worked on major collaborations like the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Chengdu International Finance Square, fashion brand Delicate Skeleton, 24KiCK, etc. She is also the co-founder of WeirDAO, a collective predominantly comprised of China-based NFT artists, designed to encourage peer-to-peer communication and collaboration.
后来，出于对探索科技与艺术关系的兴趣让她在2018年又增加了艺术家这一身份。 此后，她的作品曾展出在北京三里屯CHAO酒店艺术橱窗、BDMG生活艺术节、Gap C Gallery+艺术展上，同时她的作品还曾与诸多重大项目合作，如第 24 届冬奥会、成都国际金融广场、时尚品牌 Delicate Skeleton、24KiCK 等。她还是 WeirDAO 的联合创始人，该团队主要由中国 NFT 艺术家组成，旨在鼓励艺术家之间的交流和协作。
Reva is not the typical artist. In fact, she never pursued the path of an artist until most recently. Having worked for the film industry as an engineer, she began teaching herself digital art in 2018. Combining her computer engineering skills and artistic interests, she immersed herself into algorithmic art using coding which was inspired by the visual representation of mathematical functions and autonomous system simulations.
Reva不是典型的艺术家。事实上，她是直到最近才开始发展艺术家的这条道路。在电影行业担任工程师之后，她于 2018 年开始自学数字艺术。结合她的计算机工程技能和对艺术的兴趣，她把来自数学函数的视觉表示和自主系统模拟作为灵感，沉浸在使用编码的算法艺术中。
As her art developed, she turned to crypto art after reading the Bitcoin white paper during the start of the pandemic. While China’s stance on crypto was relatively strict, she felt the significance of blockchain technology for the future. She comments on its possibilities as such: “I dream about a real-time interactive project on the blockchain. It can be interacted with by anyone through smart contracts. It can reveal some interesting aspects of reality. It would be a bridge between crypto and the real world.” During this time she engaged with many crypto-related communities and platforms on Discord and Twitter, eventually making her way up to becoming a certified crypto artist on Makersplace.
随着她在艺术道路上的探索，Reva在疫情期间阅读了比特币白皮书，之后开始转向了加密艺术。虽然中国对加密货币的立场比较严格，但她感受到了区块链技术对未来的意义。她这样评论它的可能性：“我梦想着在区块链上建立一个实时交互项目。任何人都可以通过智能合约与之交互。它可以揭示现实中一些有趣的方面。这将是加密货币与现实世界之间的桥梁。” 在此期间，她在 Discord 和 Twitter 上与许多和加密相关的社区和平台进行了互动，最终成为了 Makersplace 上的认证加密艺术家。
A Study of Chinese Traditional Aesthetics
The foundation of Reva’s inspiration is drawn from mathematics and the power of computer-generated art. Many of the works she has generated include aspects of oriental influences as their subject. In her series, “Through the Window”, she generates blossoms and branches surrounded by Chinese-styled window lattices that are seen in Chinese art and architecture. Each piece is generated with alternating patterns, weather, and nature. The variations as seen by the viewer can act as a window to a memory in time, the sentiment, and the sceneries that we envision in our own narratives.
Reva 的灵感来源于数学和计算机生成艺术的强大。她创作的许多作品都以东方为主题。在她的《窗棂》系列中，中国风格的窗棂环绕着花朵和树枝，展现出中国艺术和建筑的风格。每件作品都是由交替的图案、天气和自然所构成的。观众所看到的这些变化可以解读为我们自己的记忆、情绪和风景的窗口。
“A Heaven in a Wild Flower” and “Chasing the Moon” are extensions of this subject matter and her exploration of traditional patterns. Bringing more abstract thinking into these works, the first of the two series comes from the Chinese title, “一花一世界” (Yī Huā Yī Shìjiè) which means “a flower is a world”. This is derived from the Flower Adornment Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra), a key scripture that is prominent in East Asian Buddhism which in part details the phenomena of the universe as seen by a Buddha from the perspective of enlightenment. Traces of these influences can be found in China, Korea, and Japan.
《一花一世界》和《追月》是这一题材的延伸，也是她对传统图案的探索。她将更多的抽象思维带入这些作品中，这两个系列的第一个来自中文标题“一花一世界”，意思是“一朵花即一个世界”。这源自《华严经》，是东亚佛教的重要经典，其中部分详述了佛陀从启蒙的角度所看到的宇宙现象。这些影响的痕迹在中国、韩国和日本都可以找到。
The theme is also reflected partly through English poet William Blake’s poem that Reva recites: “To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.” Reva believes this is the emotional state of serenity and openness. In this series, she mimics the patterns of porcelain, she teaches the program to represent the textures, colors, and themes we have seen on oriental porcelain pieces of china.
这一主题也部分反映在英国诗人威廉·布莱克 (William Blake) 的诗中，Reva朗诵了这首诗：“在一粒沙中看到一个世界，在一朵野花中看到一个天堂，将无限握在手掌中，并在一小时内获得永恒。” Reva 相信这是平静和开放的情绪状态。在这个系列中，她模仿瓷器的图案，训练程序来表现我们在东方瓷器上看到的纹理、颜色和主题。
“Even though this world has flaws, it is full of vitality. A flower may be small, but it is a paradise for bees and butterflies. Everyone is also a flower. We just ignore or forget to observe it sometimes.”
“这个世界虽然有瑕疵，但也充满生机。一朵花可能很小，但它是蜜蜂和蝴蝶的天堂。每个人也是一朵花。我们有时只是忽略或忘记观察它。”
The “Chasing the Moon” series also generates window lattices and clouds juxtaposed over the full moon, slowly zooming as if being pulled into a trance. The moon is the closest force of nature as seen by humanity. Its significance, energies, and symbolism have been recorded throughout human existence. If “Through the Window” is a state of inner reflection of our closest memories, one can see this series as an outward view of our inner world. Perhaps it is like a dream or an abstract fantasy that engulfs our attention, similar in fashion to the awe of a full moon.
《追月》系列同样有窗棂的元素，窗棂和云朵并列在满月之上，慢慢放大，仿佛被拉入了恍惚状态。它的重要、能量和象征意义已被记录在人类存在的整个过程中。如果说《窗棂》是对我们最亲密记忆的一种内在反思，那么这个系列可以看作是我们内心世界的一种外在视角。也许它就像一个梦或一个抽象的幻像，吸引了我们的注意力，类似于我们对满月的敬畏。
Beyond Chinese aesthetics, Reva also explores traditional Chinese practices such as Tai Chi as seen in the “Flowing Nautilus” series. Its themes include time, variation, form, and infinity. In Tai Chi, there are 5 elements called Wu Xing that are reinterpreted through real-time shading in each artwork. Each of the 5 elements is a representation of the variables within our lives in the form of Earth, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood.
除了中式美学，Reva 还探索了中国传统的实践，如“Flowing Nautilus”系列中的太极元素。它的主题包括时间、变化、形式和无限。在太极中，每件艺术品都通过实时着色重新诠释了五种元素，称为五行。5 个元素中的每一个都以土、火、水、金和木的形式代表我们生活中的变量。
In Tai Chi, it is the flow of energy linked by these elements which represent organs in our bodies, balanced through the forces of Yin and Yang. Wood engenders Fire, Metal engenders Water, and so on. The artist describes the representation as an “infinite corridor we see when we stand between two mirrors.” By altering coded parameters, Reva translates them into the textures of each element in an infinite loop that is constantly spiraling.
在太极中，由这些元素连接起来的能量流代表了我们身体的器官，通过阴阳的力量平衡。木生火，金生水，以此类推。艺术家将这种表现描述为“当我们站在两面镜子之间时看到的无限走廊”。通过更改编码参数，Reva 将它们转化为每个元素的纹理，以无限循环的形式不断盘旋。
Reva’s Future Vision of NFTs
Chinese art has come a long way in the global art market and with the rise of new technologies, a more diverse range of artists will be able to create. Reva believes this evolution and embracing of innovative technologies will enable more Chinese artists to expand their horizons. Unlike traditional art, she finds that the community aspect of artists in web 3 allows artists and collectors to directly interact with each other, supporting the development and transformation of art in a new digital future.
中国艺术在全球艺术市场上取得了长足的进步，随着新技术的兴起，将有更多种类的艺术家将加入创作的行列。Reva相信这种创新技术的演变和拥抱将使更多的中国艺术家拓宽视野。与传统艺术不同，她发现 web 3 中艺术家的社区方面允许艺术家和收藏家直接互动，支持艺术在新的数字未来中的发展和转型。
“Anything can be NFT in the future. Not only art but also games. As long as it is in the virtual world, everything can be tokenized…NFT will be the most fundamental technology in the Metaverse, representing all unique digital assets containing human creativity. At that time we probably won’t emphasize the name NFT but it will be the most common aspect in people’s digital lives in the future.”
“未来任何事物都可以成为 NFT。不仅是艺术，还有游戏。只要是在虚拟世界，一切都可以被虚拟货币化……NFT将是元宇宙中最基础的技术，代表着所有包含人类创造力的独特数字资产。那时我们可能不会强调 NFT 这个名字，但它将成为未来人们数字生活中最常见的方面。”
*All images and artworks belong to the artist & his representing galleries respectively
本篇文章来源于微信公众号: SHMADNESS
