Joanne Lee – Looking Outward 06

James White created a program called Forge, which helps White to create art pieces where many elements are out of his control. I admired that not only did he want to create random art, but he also created a program / tool to help himself and other artists do the same. He stated that, “The program forces me to allow elements to react unto themselves.” I think as an artist, you usually want to be in control of every element and it is interesting that he wanted to help himself let go more.

Although I am not sure how the algorithm runs, I am assuming that he is able to input certain general shapes or patterns he likes and the program is able to iterate them in different sizes, colors, and positions randomly. The artist still has control in the sense that they are able to decide what sorts of shapes and patterns are in the artwork, however, must let go in order to get the full effect of randomness. By using a program to aid him, it is truly random since humans struggle to make random choices. The result is a beautiful piece of art and it seems like White has modified the image afterwards adding fade effects, etc. I admire that he created his own program to aid his work.