RTCA Generator, part 2

The limitations of the RTCAG soon become obvious: it selects only the first 6 to 8 images on any Google image search for the selected word(s); it only collages in an orthagonal method; and it doesn't have many effects or variations to work with. But within those limitations I notice the fractures and changes the images themselves wreak upon each other as they are smashed together. A great deal of this process depends on the chance operations of the program, so my role is limited to the selection of search terms and then the culling out of some images to save (I could potentially save all the variations, which run into the hundreds, but that would take up much of my day). I will take up the curious relation of word choice to image selection and to the ranking of Google hits which places the images at the top of the heap in later posts; right now let's stay with the artist theme:

I noticed that in certain cases the effect of the program is to mimick the art of the chosen artist, since it multiplies or intensifies the sense of collage already existing in their works. The pop artists are the obvious choices, and we have already seen some of the results for Warhol (8/7/06), but I wanted to go back to early collage pioneers.

Here are a couple Picasso results:

and here's a few for Schwitters:

Some of the best results came from the affichistes, they of the torn movie posters.

This one is Mimmo Rotella:

and this one Jacques de la Villegle:

Moving up in time a bit, we get Rauschenberg of course:

and Johns too:

But most closely mimicked is Rosenquist, because his compositions are based on a grid already:

All of the above obviously suck much of the power from the original works that are in play, but it seems to me that the RTCAG also stumbles upon very evocative compositions that expand that force to some degree. So why is any of this interesting? To me, one of the interesting aspects is the sheer number of physical operations the program performs at the press of a key and ad infinitum, which an artist would be hard pressed to mimic physically with cut papers in any reasonable amount of time. The program, however, uses no "artistic judgment"; rather, it works through an algorithm and achieves what is does by brute force, much like a computer might play chess against a human opponent.

To be continued...

(btw,the latter part of this post was composed while listening to Sparks' This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us...catchy tune.)