PROCESS

In 2014 I began developing a computer program that generates digital art by melding my own artistic intentions with informed randomness. The process begins with a choice of subject matter, for which I code a set of artistic rules. I then apply random modifications to break those rules, however not so far as to lose the subject matter entirely.

While the initial, coding phase of the process conceptualizes the art as a union of my aesthetic choices with the randomness of the computer, the intermediate step introduces human choice in the configuration of options such as color, brightness, complexity, etc. However, these choices are still subject to random variation and can only coax the image toward a desired goal. This is the kernel of my artistic process: The tension between human intention and random variation, will and luck, meaning and chaos.

Similar tensions in cultural advancement and biological evolution beget the beauty we see in humanity and life in general. Yet questions always linger in the recesses of our minds concerning the meaning of it all. Regardless of our individual beliefs in meaning, value is palpable — as hazy as the meaning of an emotional experience with a work of art may be the value that we conceive from that experience is magnificent.

It is in the final phase that I step away from the code and assert my own artistic value system onto the works that I've created; I search through the completed works to find those that approach my vision of the meaningless randomness of beauty — asserting a value to them.

Entitling the finished work is performed by random selection from a dictionary of over 60,000 words and is a reminder of the unpredictable aspects of a process involving such a vast number of permutations.

The final work is a single edition giclée print using archival inks on aluminum, archival canvas or paper.