Not a Painting

Art by Medusa

When code masquerades as canvas.

200 pieces limited edition
CC BY NC
PARENT/CHILD
PROVENANCE
BLOCK 9
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.

Not a Painting container
SURREALIST BRUSHSTROKES
THE ILLUSION OF REALITY
VISUAL METAPHORS
ECHOING RENÉ MAGRITTE
Quote

“Each image we consume, each virtual interaction, each digital identity, is composed of pixels that constantly deceive our senses, constructing simulated realities mediated by algorithms and computers”

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.

Zoom on painting

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.

AI Painter AI image

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.

Visual Metaphors

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.

More about the artist

Medusa

Miguel Jimenez Benajes called Medusa, is a software engineer turned generative artist 2 years ago from Valencia, Spain.

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Medusa