The Mind-Bending Work of Dave Whyte

Artist Spotlight is ARTXCODE's community initiative focused on showcasing talented artists beyond our roster.

Dave Whyte, a generative artist based in Dublin, has captured the imagination of viewers across the Internet. Equipped with a PhD in physics, and taking inspiration from the early days of GIF Art on Tumblr, Whyte, also known as @beesandbombs, has crafted his own mind-bending aesthetic worth celebrating.

As part of our debut collection on SuperRare, we showcased a selection of Whyte’s works. Within 24 hours, all four pieces were acquired by the Museum of Crypto Art.

To share some insight into his process and background, we asked Whyte a series of questions we'd like to share with you. Enjoy.

What sparked your interest in generative art?

Somewhere towards the end of my undergrad or the start of my PhD (both in physics) I was using the software Mathematica to plot something, and really enjoyed exploring the graphics functions it had built in. From there I started (poorly) trying to imitate the cool gif artists I was following on Tumblr – in particular davidope – before starting to find my own style. It wasn’t long after that an artist friend recommend I check out Processing, which was the ideal software for my purposes.

Alternatively, you could say my interest in generative art started when I learned the LOGO programming language when I was about eleven. But there was quite a gap between the two.

Cones by Dave Whyte; acquired by MoCa for 5 ETH

Was there a specific moment when you decided to take on generative art as a career?

It was at least partially a matter of good timing. After I finished my PhD (which I enjoyed!), I knew that the post-doc academic path wasn’t for me. Around that time I was starting to get just about enough commissions that I thought it was worth trying out full-time freelancing.

What programs do you use to create your work and why?

I pretty much exclusively use Processing. For me it strikes the right balance between being powerful but simple enough to bash rough ideas out quickly. I’ve experimented with a few other pieces of software but always end up crawling back. I think render times on my laptop when using ‘real’ 3d software scare me off.

We consider your work to be mind-bending and beautiful. Where do you find your inspiration? Do you contribute your background in physics to your aesthetic?

Thanks! I think my background in physics gave me a level of comfort with maths which perhaps made it easier to approach the sort of things I make. But I don’t think it informed my aesthetic particularly. I find it hard to say where I get my inspiration from – sometimes I will see a pattern somewhere which sets off some chain of thought. But more often I start with a simple shape or pattern and see if it can be made in two different ways, then try to come up with a compelling way of alternating between the two. Or, I throw a load of identical shapes all over the canvas and make them do the same thing at slightly different times. These are two approaches which I find often yield interesting results.

Winders by Dave Whyte; acquired by MoCa for 5 ETH

Do you know what you want to see as the final outcome or do you allow the process to dictate it?

It used to be the case that I would know more or less what the final animation would look like. But in the last couple of years I think I’ve been playing with more complicated shapes, and trickier ways of blending them. And for me this means a higher likelihood that tweaking something – without knowing exactly how it will affect things – can throw up something interesting.

What is your dream location to exhibit your work?

I’ve yet to show anything on a giant screen. Always thought that would be fun. Somewhere public!

How would you explain what you do to a 5 year old?

Well ideally I could show them some examples. But if not I’d tell them that I make little movies of colors and shapes. And that sometimes people pay me to do it. Not sure they’d believe me.

What is your piece of advice for aspiring artists in the digital space?

I think having your own style is important, but also attempting to break from it occasionally. As I said, I started out more or less aping Davidope (not for too long!) but as soon as I started doing my own thing I found it much more rewarding.

Breakup by Dave Whyte; acquired by MoCa for 5 ETH

Be sure to follow Dave on Instagram and Twitter.