A very long time ago, one of my buddies said:
Whereever there is number, there is beauty.Okay, it would be a stretch to say Proclus is a buddy since he lived between 412 and 485 AD. But, he had an aesthetic appreciation for numbers, so I feel a kinship. Unlike him, I'm not a mathematician. I just happen to appreciate the beauty in numbers.
--Proclus
The fun is in translating numbers into pictures. That's where generative art comes in. The world of generative art is alive and well today. And while I consider myself to be a generative artist, I'll leave it to the reader to google the term generative art.
Instead, I'll quote Jason Bailey, an art historian whose writings I admire:
... I see a clear line of influence on generative art starting from Cézanne and shooting straight through to the:In my case, I am motivated by the process of discovery that involves learning about mathematical concepts, investigating possibilities for visualizing those concepts, programming a computer to "plot" the data, reiterating and fine-tuning the results. I rarely know what the final image is going to look like since randomness is a major characteristic of generative art. I am often surprised and astounded by what comes out of a jumble of code and numbers. I am truly amazed by and delighted with, the range of images that are possible in this medium.
- Fracturing of geometry in Analytical Cubism
- Emphasis on technology, machine aesthetic, and mechanized production from Futurism, Constructivism, and the Bauhaus
- Introduction of autonomy and chance in Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism
- Anti-figurative aesthetic, bold geometry, and intense color of Neoplasticism, Suprematism, Hard-edged Abstraction, and OpArt
- Use of algorithms by Sol Lewitt and others
Why make art this way? This is 2019. I want to use all the tools available today to express myself creatively. Adding my laptop just made my palette huge.