Ode To Love
The artwork is one of my most ambitious creations to date. Countless hours were dedicated to crafting each element and the 3D-scenes. I hope you'll enjoy this deep dive!
Three years ago, a single click changed my world - I minted my first artwork, releasing my work into the digital realm. It was more than just a recording of information into a blockchain; it was a leap into a world where art transcends physical boundaries, permanently capturing my artistic visions and unleashing a world of possibilities I had never imagined.
"Ode to Love" marks the third anniversary of this journey, drawing inspiration from Flemish oil paintings. Symmetry, tessellations, and patterns within patterns - exploring the intricacies of organic structures and re-interpreting nature through a digital lens.
At its heart, you'll find my signature flower, a chrysanthemum, often symbolized as the flower of love.
The creation process
The arrangement integrates various methods for creating 3D objects, ranging from high-res scanned flowers to procedurally generated components and objects crafted using mathematical formulas. Every piece was carefully arranged in the scene, with details sculpted using lighting techniques reminiscent of Flemish oil paintings.
The flower bouquet was entirely hand-animated, piece by piece, and took several days to finish. In the video below, each purple box represents an animation path.
Particle Simulations
The explosion and the "smoke flower" were generated with different particle simulations, a method heavily used by Refik Adol. Millions of tiny "points" in a 3D space form a larger "structure", directed by a set of behavior rules (such as virtual forces) and appearance parameters.
Phyllotaxis - flower creation driven by math
My favorite shot, the close-up of the flower blooming, utilizes mathematical rules (such as the Fibonacci sequence) to guide flower petal placement and the motion of its stamen.
AI texturing
The artwork explores "digital origin" as one of its underlying themes, incorporating pixel textures on various objects like the butterfly to depict their visual attributes. These textures originate from generative AI tools, undergo refinement through manual adjustments in Adobe Photoshop, and are then integrated into the 3D environment.
Liquid Metal
The final "liquid metal" shot uses a blend of various techniques. I've captured the movement of black ink on paper and utilized the resulting video to guide the positioning of the metallic material on each flower petal. In this animation, black represents the metal, while white depicts the scanned surface of the flower.
Exhibitions
The artwork premiered in Paris in February 2024 and was prominently featured in an exhibition at the NFT Factory Gallery Paris, just a short walk from the Centre Pompidou.
After the launch, it was presented at NFC Festival 2024 in Lisbon, curated by OpenSea. Two exhibitions followed in Japan, both curated by NOX Gallery: one at Brillia’s showroom in the heart of Shinjuku, Tokyo, and another in July as part of an exclusive dinner event at the 500-year-old Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto.
It was later presented at Paris Photo in collaboration with the RNDR Network Foundation (OTOY).
