London-based artist Anthony Heideman, better known as MountVitruvius or “MV,” has carved out a unique space in the field of generative art by incorporating personal memories and literary inspiration into his algorithmic creations.
His 999-piece “Mind the Gap” series is inspired by childhood games and exploration, and is released for the first time on generative art platform gm. Studio, while his “Render’s Game” series explores the iterative nature of cumulative achievement, paying homage to MV’s artistic journey and Orson Scott Card’s 1985 science fiction novel “Ender’s Game.”
MV’s work straddles the line between abstraction and text, drawing on Cubism, contemporary ink illustration and the precision of digital tools, the result is a balance between organic and digital aesthetics, a sense of freshness combined with a mood that the artist describes as “reminiscent of something one might have experienced in the past.”
Observing his work, we see simple algorithms transformed into dynamic, expressive unfoldings, with each creation inviting the viewer to explore the exchange between nostalgia and innovation.
In this interview, conducted at Thunderbird Marfa Lounge during Marfa Art Block Weekend, MV invites the audience to participate in his iterative process while sharing his thoughts on generative art as a storytelling medium and the importance of building community around this emerging art form.
Note: This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
OpenSea: You focus on long-form generative art. Can you tell us about your creative inspiration?
MountVitruvius: Most of my inspiration comes from growing up, where computers were my main medium for self-expression. I was never good at drawing, but I learned to program at a young age and it opened up an incredible world for me. I realized that if I really understood how computers worked, I could create the things I imagined in my mind.
At the time, computers weren’t really considered an artistic medium, so I spent most of my life promoting the idea that programming was a unique form of creation, that there was nothing better than creating behavior through code and having software bring something to life in real time, and that it was unlike any other medium, and that always fascinated me.
OpenSea: Can you share a little bit about the aesthetic behind your work?
MountVitruvius: My work draws heavily from abstract art from the 1940s to the 1980s as a basis for my projects, I also try to incorporate an illustrative tone in the way my work is presented, you will often find my work balancing a modern, fresh and almost illustrative feel while also feeling nostalgic, like something you have encountered before.
I think that mix comes from my early struggles to have my work accepted as art, and for a long time I didn't even think of what I was doing as art until the last 10 years or so. Really consider it art, it's just something I make, enjoy and share with others.
OpenSea: Wow, that’s interesting, you didn’t consider your work as art until recently.
MountVitruvius: Yeah, there was a lot of computer scenes at the time, like the demo scene, where the focus was on writing code to demonstrate what a computer could do, and some of my work falls into that category, where it’s more about saying, “Hey, look how cool this machine is at creating things.” But interestingly, in my work today, I try to distance myself from that.
I try to create works that are not defined by the fact that they are made by a computer, instead I want people to first appreciate the work, and then, as they learn about its creation, discover that it was made through code, and that this realization adds another layer of depth to the experience.
OpenSea: What is your starting point for creating generative art? Do you start with an idea, an algorithm, or a set of rules?
MountVitruvius: That’s a great question. When I start working on a piece, inspiration can come from a lot of different directions, one of which might be a research paper I’ve read – about how to build, form or use a certain type of geometric shape, or even a scientific paper on how fluid dynamics works.
On the other hand, it could come from something beautiful that I imagine in my head, or a sketch that I draw on my iPad that makes me think, “Oh, this is a really wonderful way that this structure is put together.”
But very quickly it became code, and the code very quickly became something I could not have imagined in the first place, and it was a constant push and pull process of imagining, creating, letting it go back into imagination again, and continuing this cycle until it became something that felt alive and wonderful.
For me, that means going through many, many outputs and still finding them fascinating, and that’s when I know I’ve created something special, and when I sit there for three hours, I keep asking myself, “What else can I get out of this system?”
OpenSea: Following up on the question, do you find yourself constantly revising and tweaking your work, or are you able to set an end point?
MountVitruvius: I do sometimes have a hard time saying “this is the end, the piece is done.” When you create something, there are endless possibilities – the only real limit is your imagination, and computers are so powerful now, and the tools we have are so extensive, that you can create a piece endlessly.
But for me, at the end of the day, I have to be very hard on myself and determine what this piece needs to feel like and say, and I have to decide, "Did I achieve that? Is this good enough?"
With long-form generative art, where you create multiple works (anywhere from 50 to hundreds or more), you’re trying to tell a story that goes beyond the individual pieces people see; you want the viewer to watch the entire series and begin to understand how the elements interact and feel like the works together tell a broader story.
Sometimes that’s the hardest part because you want to keep adding more elements to the story and taking people on a bigger journey, but you have to control yourself and ask yourself, “What is the really important message that needs to be conveyed? What does this piece need to clearly say?” Don’t add too much complexity.
OpenSea: Are there any exercises or practices that help you get into creative flow?
MountVitruvius: For me, finding something really interesting, whether it’s the way an algorithm works, a specific style or aesthetic, my work often draws inspiration from physical mediums like crayons – the way a pencil colors in a scene, or the way a pen works on paper.
I wouldn't try to copy them directly, but the beauty of computers is that you can take influences from them and push beyond what's actually possible, and that's the part that excites me and makes me want to sit there for hours, listening to music, and just completely immerse myself in exploring how to push those boundaries, and once I'm hooked on an idea, I get lost in it and completely focus on creating something extremely interesting.
OpenSea: Let’s talk about Marfa. Is this place special to you? Why do you think people come here? Do you think there is something about the landscape or environment that attracts artists to gather here?
MountVitruvius: Marfa is very special to me, and if I take a step back, I think that without Art Blocks and Erick (Calderon)’s work in creating this environment, the generative art we see today would not be so widely appreciated. I have joked about it for many years and loved the idea, but it wasn’t until Art Blocks came along that the prospect of generative art existed.
It has created a community and a culture, and I have met so many amazing artists who are now really good friends of mine, and so many amazing people who either buy my work or just want to talk about it, and I have learned so much from them and hopefully I have given back to them as well.
It was an unreal experience for me, it validated the time I spent as a child learning to do this, believe in it and love it, and having events like this that remind you of that is so special and I won’t miss it.
OpenSea: Where can people find your work?
MountVitruvius: You can find me on my website.
OpenSea: Thank you very much!
MountVitruvius: Thank you, that's great.
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