Tyler Hobbs

Tyler Hobbs is an American visual artist and a leading figure in generative art, best known for the 2021 Art Blocks series Fidenza and the collaborative QQL project. A former software engineer, he studied computer science at the University of Texas at Austin before developing an algorithmic art practice known for its painterly abstract expressionism and wide breadth of outputs. He coined the phrase “long-form generative art.” His work has been shown internationally, often with physical versions created by pen-plotter or hand, including solo exhibitions at Pace Gallery in New York and Unit London.

Artworks

Fidenza

Fidenza is an influential Art Blocks Curated generative art collection based on a flow field algorithm, which creates organic, non-overlapping curves that are then overlaid with thick, curved, colorful rectangles. Flow fields are commonplace in generative art—increasingly, thanks to Fidenza’s commercial and artistic impact on the space—but the collection’s wide range of unique outputs is especially notable. Bold yet constrained, Fidenza stands out thanks to the complex, diverse interplay of parameters like turbulence and scale and its range of probabilistic color palettes, which could all be plausibly painted by hand.

View collection

Incomplete Control

Incomplete Control is a generative art series minted in person at Bright Moments Gallery in New York City. Compared to the artist’s previous collection, Fidenza, its edition size is far smaller and its works are far more visually understated. Colored rectangles are scattered throughout the neutral-colored compositions, creating a sense of movement and gesturing to analog art production through various forms of intentional imperfection. A cohesive collection, it has no ‘traits’ in the metadata distinguishing individual pieces.

View collection

Wall

Wall is a generative attempt at photorealistically representing an otherwise unremarkable brick wall from the artist’s hometown of Austin, Texas. Released as 73 editions as part of PROOF 'Grails', the work was partially inspired by Agnes Martin’s grid drawings. It achieves a remarkably organic texture through subtle details like brick placement inconsistencies, grout variations, and lighting effects.

View collection

QQL

QQL is a collaborative generative art experiment by Tyler Hobbs and Indigo Mané with an unusual, open-ended minting window. Anyone can test the algorithm and save favorite outputs, but only mint pass holders can commit a particular work to the blockchain. This act of co-creation encourages collectors to explore the outer limits of the algorithm, which assembles large structures of colorful dots around a flow field. A series of 12 physical paintings derived from QQL-generated images was also exhibited at Pace Gallery in New York.

View collection

Browse more of Tyler Hobbs' artwork here.