Within each of us resides an evolutionary history of primal emotions, yet we often spend our lives dulling and controlling these instincts rather than reveling in them. Art is one of the ways we best express those instincts and intuitions – accessing and visualizing their visceral qualities, and releasing our deepest emotions in a way we can share.

pang reflects emotions that take control of our impulses – anguish, euphoria, obsession. By using crayon-like marks, the artworks convey the catharsis felt while drawing with a childlike abandon. To capture what gives such marks true feeling, the works deliberate the intrinsic movements, pressures, and angles shaped by hands in various moods. These qualities and their frenetic meanderings represent the infinite possibilities of where the crayon could go next – if only we could free ourselves from the layers of control we've built.

The contradictions we struggle with are reflected throughout the works: in the long, methodical, and mathematical path to creation that yields work that looks fast, free and unrehearsed; through the randomly-informed computer generation of art that feels human; and by the depiction of long-standing traditional techniques to help display the conceptual range of a young, innovative art movement still establishing its pivotal place in the canon of art. These tensions parallel the work's underlying concept, accentuating the suspicion that a learned fear of emotional expression might just be the source of our own pang.

Created in p5.js, pang is inspired by the emotional works and processes of later abstract expressionists such as Cy Twombly and Joan Mitchell – as well as contemporary artists like José Parla.

Functionality:
Press ‘p’ to save as a png.
Press ‘b’ to render with (or without) a transparent background.
Press 0-9 to render at varying degrees of quality. 0 (lowest quality) to 9 (highest quality, 15000 pixels lengthwise).
Press ⬆️ (arrow up) to incrementally increase pixel density.
Press ⬇️ (arrow down) to incrementally decrease pixel density.

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TENDER x abstractment
April 2022