Powerful Tools for Success

The Kaspirov consists of a webcam mounted in a lampshade above a physical chess board, and two buttons, all connected to a small computer. As players make moves on the board, they press the buttons as they would on a traditional chess clock. This instructs the computer to take a before and after picture of the chessboard using the overhead webcam. By comparing those images the computer can determine which move has been made, feed this into the Stockfish chess engine, which calculates the best response. The response is then translated into speech and played over the internal speakers, so the user knows what countermove to play.

Don’t you miss the days when you manually picked a cd or a vinyl album to play, or a mixtape you carefully put together, rather than having The Algorithm play a ‘mood’ for you? The physical act of putting a cartridge into a playback device, it had something magical. The simple push of a button. No fumbling for a password, no interruption from a Windows update, no keyboard, no loading times. But, unfortunately, all your music is in the cloud nowadays. That wretched cloud, taking the fun out of music, with its stupid infinite storage. Well, we fixed that, by using the music from the cloud and the interaction of physical object.

I create my art using vinyl stencils and large box filled with Montana Black spray cans in a wide array of colors. Here's the step-by-step process:

The preparation is where much of the effort lies. I start out with source material from photographs and movie stills, using Photoshop to build the concepts I envision. The key is to simplify these images into just a few color layers that are aesthetically pleasing and maintain structural integrity once they are cut into stencils.

The cutting. Previously I did this by hand using an x-acto knife and paper stencils. Not only was this very labor-intensive and gave me RSI, the fact that paper stencils are not re-usable had a negative effect on the creativity. I found myself making designs simpler and in fewer layers simply to save myself from a lot of work. Fortunately, I’ve since upgraded to a plotter that cuts precise, reusable vinyl stencils. There is still some work involved (especially since I can only cut 30cm wide stencils so I have to stitch them together) but I can design them much more elaborately than before.

Then, layer by layer, I build the painting on a canvas or canvas board. Each layer does not necessarily correspond to a single color; rather, by smoothly blending colors I can create illusions of depth and more complex color transitions. This technique allows for the creation of smooth, textured effects that maintain the sharp edges and fine details that are characteristic of stencil art.

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