Algorithmic art

September 6th, 2008 at 0:34 · Filed Under At Home, Blogging, Mathematics 

Jean-Pierre Hébert, a 68-year-old French artist, is an algorist. This is a name, proposed by Jean himself, for artists who create arts using unique computer algorithms. Apple featured Jean and his works in May 2008. You can read about him here so I am not going to repeating writing about him and his works.

When I was doing shopping alone this evening, the idea flashed in my mind. I could use Mathematica to explore algorithmic art. So, I sat down in front of my Mac and explored. Here’s my first piece of algorithmic art . It is not comparable to what Jean has done but is definitely a good start. I can’t call myself algorist yet because I created no algorithm.

The following examples are two very simple mathematics equations. The plots demonstrate that mathematics can be visualized as art.

And here is the Mathematica code:

ArrayPlot[
 Table[Mod[Abs[((2 x + I y/5)^2)/5*Pi], 2], {x, -36,
   36}, {y, -36, 36}]]

This is the first color algorithmic art which I accidentally stumbled upon while I was trying to plot a directional field. I modified the plot equation and added colors to it.

The Mathematica code:

ArrayPlot[
 Table[Mod[Abs[(4 - 2 x)/(3 y^2 - 5)], 2], {x, -36, 36}, {y, -36,
   36}], ColorFunction -> "Rainbow"]

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Comments

2 Responses to “Algorithmic art”

  • 尉迟书贤 on September 6th, 2008 12:46 1

    That’s a nice creativity. I like the 2nd piece.

    书贤

  • Ira on September 6th, 2008 13:00 2

    Check out Processing; it’s a wonderful language/environment and community dedicated to algorithmic art.

    http://processing.org

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