Not a painting
Art by Medusa
When code masquerades as canvas.
CC BY NC 
PARENT/CHILD PROVENANCE
BLOCK 9 450X SATS
LIMITED EDITION
THIS IS NOT A PAINTING
Not a Painting by Medusa
Built on advanced GLSL shader techniques, each artwork in Not a Painting mimics the texture and flow of oil painting, only, it isn’t paint at all. Instead, what appears as thick brushstrokes is a live-rendered, generative performance: artworks that simulate their own creation, endlessly painting themselves before your eyes.
Echoing René Magritte’s surrealist legacy, particularly his 1929 masterpiece The Treachery of Images, Medusa turns illusion into digital poetry. “Ceci n’est pas une peinture” — this isn’t a painting — but it might be something more.
SURREALIST BRUSHSTROKES
THE ILLUSION OF REALITY
VISUAL METAPHORS
ECHOING RENÉ MAGRITTE
“I think that somehow our brain tries to identify the unknown. In a natural way, it transforms abstract things into something familiar to us. And here is where the magic resides.”
Medusa
WHEN CODE MASQUERADES AS CANVAS
SURREALIST BRUSHSTROKES
What you see is not a painted texture, but a real-time simulation of one. Powered by complex GLSL shaders, every brushstroke in Not a Painting behaves as if it were being dragged by hand, yet no brush ever touches the surface. These coded visuals flow with physics-driven logic, mimicking paint viscosity, stroke layering, and fluidity. The result? An artwork that moves like it’s alive, even though it’s just… pixels.
THE ILLUSION OF REALITY
In an age of AR, deepfakes, and virtual identities, Not a Painting holds up a mirror to our digital condition. The artworks are not still images, they are digital performances. Simulated brushstrokes loop endlessly, reflecting how our screens construct a reality that never quite settles into truth.
VISUAL METAPHORS
From social media avatars to metaverse identities, we live among illusions. Not a Painting captures this essence, aligning with AI-generated art, virtual exhibitions, and the NFT movement. It’s a meditation on truth, perception, and artistic originality in a post-physical era.
ECHOING RENÉ MAGRITTE
This collection is born from the same shader engine and technique as Medusa’s earlier piece, This is Not a Game, sold for 0.042 BTC as part of our whisky tasting experience in Las Vegas.
Both artworks stretch code to its emotional limits, redefining what authenticity means in a world of computational creativity.
BREAK INTO REALITY WITH A PHYSICAL ILLUSION
By participating in the initial sale, you can also order a physical hand signed print to experience the optical illusion that “Not a Painting” has to offer.
LIMITED TO 25 EDITIONS ONLY
More about the artist
Medusa
Miguel Jimenez Benajes called Medusa, is a software engineer turned generative artist 2 years ago from Valencia, Spain.
Discover
Our Curated Collections format introduces a pleasant way to collect generative art, where each collection consists of limited series outputs from an artist’s algorithm. These curated sets offer rarity and variety, allowing collectors to explore the collection in search of the most unique or rare pieces that resonate with their personal taste.
This format blends exclusivity with discovery, as every piece carries its own distinct character within the larger narrative, inviting collectors to find the hidden gems in each series.
Limited Algorithmic Series
Rarity within the collection
Curator-Driven Narratives
Collector-Focused Exploration
