Gavin Shapiro

United States of America

Gavin Shapiro is a digital artist whose approach consists in producing works that make the viewer smile. He focuses primarily on playful conceptual works that explore how we can use digital tools to confront our expectations of what is possible in a traditionally physical art world. His works are created at the intersection of mathematics, surrealist architecture, psychology and animal analysis. Gavin began his career as an animated graphic designer in 2009 and has since lived in New York, Osaka and Paris, working on a wide variety of projects, including motion design art animations but also television shows, advertisements, outdoor displays or large-format stage visuals.

His personal works, published under the name "Shapiro500", have been used as visuals at music festivals and concerts around the world, and have been displayed on giant screens in art exhibitions in New York, Paris and Tokyo. Shapiro’s animations have garnered hundreds of millions of views on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and Giphy. He has also collaborated with large brands and companies such as Adult Swim, Ralph Lauren, Netflix, Google, Microsoft, and Lion's Gate.


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Temporal Block Toy

Temporal_Block_Toy_Gavin_Shapiro_3D.mp4

The Temporal Block Toy is a visual aid that demonstrates how to craft a looping narrative by repeatedly offsetting a subject’s storyline, causing it to continuously interact with itself in the past and future.


The subject, in this case, is the block toy itself, and only when several are placed in a row and staggered in time do we see a new overarching narrative emerge: a never-ending marble run built from different moments of the same timeline. This time-traveling looping structure is used in many of Shapiro’s past works, the first of which dates back to 2020.


An allusion to the repeating nature of life and the inevitable emergence of new generations, the Temporal Block Toy aims to metaphorize the unstoppable march of time as a simple child’s toy, paying homage to the story of humanity and the individual lives from which it is formed.


The Temporal Block toy has been fitted with a simple timer to make it easier to understand how it progresses. Each track segment is numbered to indicate the time at which it is featured in the 16 second story. By following a single block toy, the viewer gains new understanding for how it fits within the marble’s journey.

technique

3d

format

portrait

duration

00:40

year

2024

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Generative art
Generative art refers to a way of creating artworks using an autonomous system. In digital art, these are usually generated from code and algorithms created by the artist, often with certain predefined parameters or systems. Although these parameters guide the final outcome of the work, generative art is generally a surprising way to create artworks, as the results are often unexpected and the number of possible outcomes can be infinite.
AI
AI art is a branch of generative art that uses artificial intelligence. Unlike other generative artworks, AI artworks use specific complex algorithms and models derived from machine learning. The most common methods for creating AI art today are GANs (generative adversarial networks) or proprietary prompting platforms such as ChatGPT, Sora, Midjourney, or Dall-e.
3D
3D art uses 3D software such as Blender, Cinema4D, Houdini, or video game software such as Unity to create works of art. In 3D works, artists can either arrange assets (the 'objects' in a 3D artwork or world) that they have created themselves or purchased from other creators to create elaborate environments and scenes (an approach to 3D art called 'set dressing'), or specialize in sculpting, which involves creating their own objects and assets.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is a specialized 3D technique that allows 3D objects to be created from numerous photographs taken of an object or scene from multiple angles. These photos are then compiled to determine the specific positioning, shape, and dimensions of the object in space, and then converted into a 3D model. Initially developed for engineering and urban planning, photogrammetry has become a way for artists to produce extremely accurate 3D models from real-life images.
Collage
An extension of the traditional, plastic approach to collage, digital collage involves searching for and cutting out multiple images, extracting them from their original context, and recomposing them in a new arrangement to create a work of art. Artists can use their own photographs or find images on the internet.
Illustration
Digital illustrations are created using software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate. As with drawing on paper, the artist uses a stylus to sketch a figure or object, usually on a tablet, to construct a scene or artistic universe. Unlike traditional drawing methods, digital illustration is much more forgiving, as mistakes can be easily corrected and drawn elements and objects can be easily moved around within a scene.
Video
Video artworks primarily use a recording camera, but may sometimes include additional post-processing or editing to distort, modify or add additional elements to the image. Some artists use state-of-the-art recording equipment to create macro zoom-ins or time lapses, privileging fidelity to the subject matter. Others use additional softwares to significantly modify or warp the video, creating an alternative perspective on the world that surrounds us.

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