Grails II artist @VanArman is looking both big and small. With his work “Quantum Noise,” we see a shifting colorful dance, creating spectacular shapes and numbers within the piece. Each edition is a unique generative work augmented with noise from the ibmq_quinto quantum computer. There is delicate chaos, and the longer the viewer observes the work, the more you are sucked in. “At regular scales our world is consistent and predictable, but at the quantum level everything is random and chaotic.”

Van Arman’s creative practice for the last fifteen years has focused less on time in the painter's chair, and more on creating the mechanical tool to paint. With a background as a roboticist, Van Arman has spent years developing painting robots using deep learning neural networks and quantum computers. “My machines have grown beyond being simple assistants and are now effectively augmenting my own creativity, as well as having creativity of their own.”

Looking back, in 2020 Van Arman and @KittyLifeArt collaboratively released “Artonomous 32,881,” an AI-generated painting using Simpson’s curated portraits and Van Arrman’s smart robot. Using feedback loops and deep learning, 32,881 strokes were made on a canvas to produce a beautiful painting. The piece is akin to a highly processed Chuck Close work, a shadow or memory of a person captured electronically. Methodically laying down paint, we see a step in Van Arman’s evolution of process-oriented portraits.