, 11 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
thinking about how the cover of coolio gangster's paradise is definitely a manipulated photo of an impact label, a type of art "prompt" that, off the top of my head, is almost totally extinct
the impact printer doesn't intend to create a complex shape when illuminated at an oblique angle, it just can't help it. the technology is intrinsically imprecise. even if it were more precise, it would still be creating reams of visual information at macro scale
tons of methods we had for making images - often quickly - were imperfect. typewriters, xerox, mimeograph, dot matrix printers. those have been replaced with flawless laserjets and flawless inkjets for most applications.
there's no characteristic Look to anything produced by computers anymore, and computers are increasingly used for Everything. even impact labeling has been replaced with the p-touch which is pretty damn clean and perfect
not to say there aren't tons of things to take inspiration from as an artist, you know, everything's going to be just fine as far as that goes, but it is weird and a bit unfortunate still.
In that I feel like throughout the history of art people have used found objects, found machinery, found media, things they encountered incidentally and turned to the purpose of art, and nowadays the rate at which we run into things that aren't made on a computer is low
our society has gotten tremendously better at churning out things that are "perfect" - in other words, where the manufacturer had, and exercised, total editorial control of the appearance and construction.
a lot of what makes people horny for past eras of electronics is that when things were made with cost-no-object philosophy, they did not become black boxes with a single button and a single knob, because computers did not yet exist.
the physical constraints imposed by not having microprocessors or surface mount electronic components or, sometimes, any electronics at *all* forced designers to do things they wouldn't have done if they'd been given a blank check to design the device
the impact labeler would like to have been a p-touch if it could have been. if it could have made a perfect, flawless print with no relief, it would have. but the engineer was forced to make something that approximated the goal - that fell short of it.
"imperfect" things fill the world with unintended new information not crafted by a human hand; "perfect" things run the risk of producing only what was consciously intended
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Oh Hey, Gravis Is Here!
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!