Rob Dixon, better known as Radix, transforms code into generative art that is both mind-bending and beautiful. Based in Marin County, California, Radix has been experimenting at the intersection of art, code, and video game design for decades.
His work can be found everywhere from Marfa to Paris, and even in the Metaverse, where he co-created the popular Decentraland game WonderZone.
Radix’s first Art Blocks work, “Inspirals,” draws viewers into a hypnotic cycle of movement and meditative concentration, with intricate patterns that demand close inspection, drawing you into the endless possibilities of geometry.
Next came his “Eccentrics” series, in which he explored the limits of rules and symmetry in patterns, and his latest series, “Exposures,” launched on MakersPlace in early December 2024 in partnership with the Miami Digital Art Fair.
In this interview, which took place in Thunderbird Marfa’s lounge during Marfa Art Block Weekend, Radix shared insights into his creative process and his thoughts on the intersection of generative art and storytelling.
Note: This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
OpenSea: What initially drew you to the world of generative art?
Radix: I always loved doing art, even as a kid, but my parents were like, “No, that’s not a career.” So, I went into software development and engineering, and then, in the late 90s, I started getting into game development, where I focused a lot on art.
I ended up getting a job at Adobe working on Adobe Flash, and at that point, I could be part of a team creating art and animations to test things out, and I really enjoyed it, and I started doing it just for fun because there wasn’t really a market for it at the time.
I was working in game development until 2020, when I learned about Art Blocks and everything changed.
OpenSea: How have your relationships in the generative art world evolved as your art has developed?
Radix: When I learned about Art Blocks, it was like a lightbulb moment for me, I started seeing people doing similar things to what I had done in the past, things that I never thought anyone would see or like, but people loved it - and even paid for it - which was so awesome that I immediately dropped everything I was doing and spent all my free time creating generative art.
I reached out to ArtBlocks and worked with them for a few months until they agreed to publish “Inspirals” as a collection, which really exposed me to long-form generative art, which has its own unique challenges and changes, and it completely changed my practice going forward.
OpenSea: Tell me more about your practice, what tools and platforms do you use?
Radix: When I create a work I usually start with a concept, what I want to convey, it could be as simple as wanting something bright and vivid that makes people feel happy when they see it, but in my recent series I have been working on deeper themes and trying to create more impactful work.
Once I have a concept I then figure out the right toolset, since software is my main medium I have a lot of options, for example there are tools like p5.js that focus on 2D, or three.js and Babylon that focus more on 3D, my current process has evolved to include all of them so I can choose the one that works best for the concept, I often start with a 3D idea, render it in different ways, look at it from multiple angles and strive to create the most compelling composition and rendering.
OpenSea: Do you find yourself constantly modifying or tweaking your work, or do you reach a clear stopping point?
Radix: In code-based generative art, the whole process is about constant improvement, you start with something that looks good, then you tweak some details, run 10 more outputs, maybe 100, and see how it turns out.
By the time I’m done with a series, I’ve usually run thousands of tests, and each test involves a decision – this stays, this feature is usable, or this isn’t great, so let’s tweak it.
For example, in my latest collection I started with around 200 possible color palettes, after refining and understanding how each palette made me and others feel, I whittled it down to 100 for the final collection, it was a long process of exploring each option, considering what emotion it would evoke, and deciding if it fit with the vision for the collection.
OpenSea: You talked about parameters and tools in your process, but what is your usual starting point - an idea, an algorithm, or a visual concept?
Radix: Now, when I start a piece, I do try to start with a concept, I ask myself, “What do I want to say with this piece?” In the early days, I’m just messing around with stuff and thinking, “Oh, this looks cool, can I make something cool out of it? Can I do something extra stylistic, repeating a pattern on a flat surface?” That kind of thing.
Now, what I'm really focusing on is the composition, is this going to be interesting, just the composition itself? And then, can I add color to it? Do I want to make it gloomy? Do I want to make it bright? A lot of times with code-based generative art series, you want that mix.
So you want some pieces to look more black and white and others to look bright and airy and fun, and there’s a lot of variation, but it all comes from that initial concept of, “This is what I want to say in this series.”
OpenSea: Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming series “Exposures” and its inspiration?
Radix: “Exposures” is my next series and it really tries to push some boundaries in terms of what it means to be able to create artwork that has a code-based, on-chain, and generative impact. I embed animated and posable 3D characters into the data of the piece, and the poses of the characters in the piece vary. I really want the work to tell a story.
For example, you might see two people in very different poses — one is on the phone, completely distracted, and the other is dancing, and you look at this and ask, “What’s going on? Who are these people? What are they doing?” I think that’s something I haven’t been able to do before in my generative art, which has mostly been abstract.
I was trying to tell a story with these characters, and also with the overall composition - the colors, the characters moving through these very bright, vivid digital landscapes, but also feeling a little lost in them, and I was trying to say what happens when we're on our phones all day, living in a digital world, and what effects does that have on us? Can I talk about some of those effects - good and bad?
These technologies open up new worlds to us, but at the same time, they distract us and make us miss the real things happening around us.
OpenSea: As someone who works with evolving technologies, what do you think about the future of generative art? Are you optimistic or concerned?
Radix: Yes, the development of generative art is going to take an interesting path, and I think it will develop in several ways.
One thing I’m trying to do in the new series is to create art that people don’t need to understand how it was made, which is a big shift for code-based generative art, as that series is usually focused on the technology itself – how it’s built and how it looks in all its variations.
I think we’re heading towards a point where the process behind creation becomes invisible and the artwork becomes a thing in its own right, and with the advent of AI it adds a whole new dimension, and to a large extent it’s still about art, but I really like what some artists are doing – putting their early work within their own AI process.
I think everything will be fine, AI will become yet another tool in the artist’s toolbox, and overall I’m optimistic about where the digital art world is headed and how it will start to make its way into the mainstream art world.
OpenSea: What does participating in the Marfa Art Block Weekend mean to you?
Radix: It’s been so fun to visit Marfa, especially as an artist, and for a lot of us creative artists, especially those who have been doing this for 20 years, Art Blocks has been a game changer in that it’s really opened up code-based artwork to all sorts of people who had never seen it before.
We’re so grateful for Art Blocks, the community that’s formed around it all is amazing, and sure, market stuff has its ups and downs, but at the end of the day, the crew – the collectors, the artists, everyone behind it – has been so supportive, they’re all still here, ready for the next step, and I think it’s a great time to be involved.
OpenSea: Where can people find your work online?
Radix: My website is radixart.io.
OpenSea: Thank you for taking the time to share your insights!
Radix: Thank you for this opportunity, it’s awesome!
#Marfa #ArtBlocks #Decentraland
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