
Generative clock
Generative clock
Claudio Castillo was born in Havana Cuba in 1958. He grew up and studied in Spain, France and England, and started technology
and video companies in London, Madrid and New York. He lives and works in Miami Florida as an artist, animator, cameraman
and television editor. He has exhibited his generative and interactive work in International Art fairs and Museums in Europe the US and China.
His work combines traditional watercolors techniques with the latest cutting edge technologies in Computer graphics.
His watercolor work is animated and composited in real time to create impermanent artwork that is fleeting yet tied to natural cycles
such as the moon and tides. He also uses RSS feeds of financial, news and weather data to drive the artwork in real time.
His interest lie in art, video and computer technology.
Education:
Middlesex Polytechnic, London, UK 1981
London International Film School, London, UK 1978-80
Univeriste D’Aix Marseille, France 1977
Awards
Winner of the 2008 Museum of Latin American Art’s award in the category of video and photography.
Video / Animation
IBB, BBG, OCB, 1992 – present
Editor, cameraman, writer, director, graphic designer, and animation
news segments, documentaries, interstitials, openings, and specials.
Writer/Producer/Director/Animator
Series, Joke of the Day, Univision Newscasts, Miami 1998
Web design Televisa, Miami 1996
Production Manager
3D Showscan, Concierto por la Tierra, World’s Fair, Seville, Spain 1991
Freelance Animator / Designer . New York City 1988-90
Freelance Animator / Designer . Madrid Spain 1980-82
Entrepreneurial
Vice-president, Xicon Sytems, New York, 1985-1988
Restructured Xicon to form Celefex, a computer animation production company; produced and animated commercial and non commercial, promotional, and industrial videos. Demonstrated animation system, co-wrote manual and user interface.
Chairman and President, Antics Enterprises, New York 1983-1985
Incorporated company, developed business plan, found partners, secured financing, purchased equipment and hired personnel.
Exhibitor, ACM Siggraph: Detroit 1983, Minneapolis 1984, San Francisco 1985, Dallas 1986.
Teaching
Antics computer-animation software, Sintesis, Granada, Spain, 1991
Antics computer animation software, Impact Communications, Birmingham, UK 1990
CADAF Virtual Fair June 2020.
MHCAC Virtual art group show SOS earth day April 2020.
Raw Space (solo) Vero Beach January 2020.
Context Art Fair Miami Art week Dec 2019.
From Generative art to stained glass MHCAC December 2019
Miami Beach Art deco Museum (solo) January 2019.
Ecce mater tua, Miami Hispanic Cultural Arts Center. May 2018.
LA art, California, January 2018.
Intercontinental digital take over for Miami art week (solo), December 2017.
Hispanic Cultural Art Center (solo), Miami, December 2017.
Fat village, January Fort Lauderdale, Fl 2017.
LA art California, January 2017.
Spectrum, Miami Florida, Dec 2016.
SOBU Miami Art week, FL 2016.
Florida Contemporaries, The Baker Museum, Naples, FL January 2016.
Spectrum, Miami, FL December 2015.
Art Expo New York, NY March 2014.
Spectrum, Miami, FL December 2014.
Art Palm Beach, January 2014
MIA Sea Fair, Miami, January 2014,
SCOPE Art Fair, Miami December 2013,
Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Disrupted Nature May, 2013
Fountain Art Fair, New York, March 2013
FAT VILLAGE, Ft Lauderdale, March 2013
Brisky Gallery, Miami, February 2013
MIA Sea Fair, February 2013
Groundspace Project Los Angeles, January 2013
Parallax Fair, Miami, FL , December 2012
Art Miami, Miami, Fl , December 2011
Edgezones, Miami, Fl , December 2011
Art Miami, Miami, Fl , December 2010
Solo Show Arte Americas, Tresart, Miami Fl, March 2010
Imaginarium, Ft Lauderdale, Fl, February -March 13 2010
Art Miami, Miami, Fl , December 2009
Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Animamix Biennial, Taiwan, November 2009
Naples Museum of Art, Fl, Latin American Painting Now, October 2009
Hot Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland, June 2009
Arte Americas, Miami, FL, March 2009
Art Expo, New York City, NY, February 2009
Nicole Henry Gallery Group Show, Palm Beach, FL, November 2009
Art Miami, Miami, Fl, December 2009
Nicole Henry Gallery, Palm Beach, FL, November 2009
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, Beyond Photoshop, Sept 2008
PINTA, Contemporary Art Fair, New York City , NY, November 2008
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, Awards 08 Show, Sept 2008
CCE/Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 2008
Tresart Cuban Contemporaries, Miami , FL, May 2008
Arte Americas, Miami, FL, March 2008
Edgezones Group Show, Miami, FL, December 2007
Art Futures Group Show, Miami, FL, December 2007
Art Miami, Miami, FL, December 2007
PINTA Contemporary Art Fair, New York City, NY, November 2007
Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Animamix Biennial, China, October 2007
Art Expo, Las Vegas, NV, September 2007
Group Show, Art Futures Gallery, Miami, FL, July 2007
“Light on San Servolo” Art Fair, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, June 2007
CIGE Art Fair, Beijing, China, May 2007
CIRCA Art Fair, Puerto Rico, April 2007
DiVA Video Art Fair, New York City, NY, February 2007
Group Show, “Zones Fair”, Edgezones , Miami, FL, December 2006
Group Show, “Moving Image”, Alonso Gallery, Miami, FL, November 2006
Group Show, Edgezones, Miami, FL, December 2005
Group Show, “Son,” Design Center of the Americas, Hollywood, FL, 1993
Solo Show, Brickell Square, Miami, FL, 1992
Group Show, “Comet Halley”, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY, 1985
Group Show, Galeria Sigfrido, Madrid, Spain, 1982
Solo Show, Bacardi Gallery, Miami, FL, 1979
Solo Show, El Sombrero Gallery, Torremolinos, Spain, 1977
AWARDS
Winner of the 2008 Museum of Latin American Art’s award in the category of video and photography.
The Art:
Claudio Castillo is a multi-dimensional multi-media artist who has combined fine art,
painting, video, photography, animation and computer programming into an art
form that takes on a life of its own. He creates kinetic and ever-evolving visions with thematic
variations where change is inevitable and happens before our very eyes.
Castillo has uniquely combined his many talents into a radically new concept–works of
art exploring time and motion that are romantic, philosophical, light and graceful. His
pieces not only evoke emotion, but also create fleeting ephemeral compositions allowing
the viewer to witness and get lost in the sometimes subtle and sometimes dramatic effects of
the passage of life and of time, with the knowledge that it will never be repeated.
By embedding software in dreamlike, poetic watercolor landscapes, unlike linear video art,
he creates “non-linear regenerative paintings.” The end result is a moving, mesmerizing,
impermanent performance.
The work is viewed on a screen or projected, but can also be printed, recorded or streamed.
He begins with digitized versions of his watercolors, splits the image into several layers, and
then animates each one in multiple ways. This creates the possibility of countless variations of
the painting as it morphs eternally into new compositions. In essence, he creates an
environmental world that is living and changing perpetually in a random non-linear way–whilst
at the same time the internal computer clock does the opposite, keeping accurate time and predicting
natural cycles such as the phases of the moon or tides.
His iconography resonates as abstract forms of water, flowers, rain, sun, vines, grass,
roots, sky, rocks and more. These are rendered schematically and change subtly toward
abstraction. The introduction of multiplicity, chance, and natural cycles into a single
image, and its pre-programmed control, opens the work up to a world of puzzling
juxtapositions of impermanence and ceaselessness. These generative pieces also
make use of Internet connectivity to reflect real-time data within the work’s imagery,
creating artwork that responds to incoming stimuli.
Generative art has been around as a concept since the cavemen when they stared at shadows
from their fires. In ancient Greece Heraclitus proclaimed, “you will not walk in the same river
twice”. Other Contemporary artists have dealt with the challenges of time and
movement differently, be it Calder’s kinetic mobile sculptures or Nam June Paik’s electronic
world of linear videos and television sculptures. Even Duchamp did “Three
Stoppages” when he let gravity alter the shape and movement of three pieces of string
falling, never repeating the same result.
When computers came along John Simon created “Every Icon” where a pixel moves in
a grid creating every possible composition driven by an algorithm. In music, John Cage
created his 639 year-long piece entitled “As slow as possible”. And, Brian Eno
combined audio and video in his generative light boxes displaying moving LEDs that
never repeat.
The evolution of technology in art is exemplified by Castillo’s successful merger of fine
art and perpetual motion. Prints or linear videos from the generative process offer a
recognizable artistic experience, however the “work” itself is never done. In this way, it
challenges the whole concept of art since there is no end to the potential variations. His
work will continue to be created well after his death.
Virgin Apparition: Generative art. Watercolor, animation and software. 6 layers, one chance of repetition in approximately 8 trillion years. Virgin appears when triggered by motion. Software on computer. Edition of 8 with 2 APs.
Van Gogh generator: Generative art, watercolor. animation and software.
Six ;layers , approximately one chance of repetition in 8 trillion years, accurate moon and tidal phases.
Software on Computer.
Edition of 8 with 2 APs.