Melissa Wiederrecht has developed a body of work that uses computational structures to engender an emotive connection between what is seen and what is “authored.” In doing so, she creates an interesting paradox: Using digital and analog visuals, she has moved further and further into the machine realm, applying both algorithmic systems and code to create highly texturized generative pieces that have lives of their own. Still, each image relies on a hands-on practice that is positively artisanal.

“Misty Blossom is generative but not made with code at all!” the artist explains. “The processes, which are very similar to my code processes, are all designed with ‘nodes’ in Adobe Substance 3D Designer. The algorithm for it is still completely random and can make infinite variations, just like code. The watercolor texture on top of Misty Blossom is actually based on a real watercolor texture scanned from a page my daughter painted, but it is also adjusted with the algorithm to be seamless and be jumbled about the piece randomly.”