Blot is Evolutionary Generative Abstract Art

With blot I am exploring the aesthetic possibilities of pure mathematical equations. I am specifically seeking out forms that are organic enough to challenge any viewer's notions of what mathematics can visually represent. The vehicle for this exploration is interactive artificial evolution, a computational analogy to natural selection, which allows me to literally grow and create complex and beautiful images using equations as DNA.

I start with initially very simple equations which are mutated randomly to produce a population of new equations. Next I selectively choose the most interesting or aesthetic images out of this population, and the chosen ones are cross-bred and randomly mutated to produce the next generation. This process often repeats for hundreds of generations before artistically viable images are achieved.

The software I use to facilitate this work was written by myself, and has itself been slowly evolving for over ten years. In many ways I consider the software part of the art itself. Balancing the tension between simplicity and complete artistic control is one of my goals, as well as the ability for the evolution process to give the viewer an instinctive and purely visual sense of the underlying equations without the need to understand them deeply at the mathematical level; to know what they do without having to know what they are. This instinct is partially developed through the simple coloring scheme I use, which is typically composed of four colors: black, white, a reddish or warm tone, and a bluish or cool tone. Black represents zero, white infinity, warm represents positive values and cool negative. Knowing only how the equations produce color gives the viewer an immediate visual sense of the mathematical structure of these images.

Signed, limited edition, archival prints are available. For more information, please contact me.

David Augustus Hart was born in Provo, Utah and studied computer graphics and mathematics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. David's pursuits in digital imaging have led him to work in diverse fields ranging from digital art to medical imaging, from video games to computer animated feature films.