Computer Art

Art that randomly rearranges itself collage-style, and more.

Click on a picture. When the piece has loaded, click the 'Please view Full Screen' button on the lower right.

Quarantine Spring

Quarantine Spring0.8 MB

Call Me a Taxi

Call Me a Taxi0.7 MB

Raw Canvas

Raw Canvas0.3 MB

Crossing Paths

Crossing Paths0.3 MB

Checkered Future

Checkered Future1.7 MB

Forager Follies

Forager Follies2.6 MB

Chroma Holiday

Chroma Holiday1.0 MB

Night Garden

Night Garden0.5 MB

Sentences

Sentences0.5 MB

Tint City

Tint City0.5 MB

Picture Garden

Picture Garden0.3 MB

Picture Garden was my first collage-generator, made on the Commodore Amiga in 1988. I re-created it for the web, chunky pixels and all, in 2014. If you're on a phone, use landscape orientation for this one.

But really, please don't use your tiny little phone to view art if you have an alternative. It looks so much better full screen on a large monitor.

For a public setting like a coffeehouse or a waiting room, change the computer's Energy Saver preferences to never shut down due to inactivity, and its Screen Saver prefs to never trigger a screensaver. Don't use the Safari browser for Checkered Future or Chroma Holiday, and don't use the Brave browser for Picture Garden.

A wall-hung monitor is a great way to display art, but there have been dedicated products as well:

If you happen to own an Electric Objects screen, I've modified a few pieces to run on the EO1/EO2.

I coded everything in either Processing.js or its wonderful successor, P5.js. If you'd like to make your own online generative art, P5js.org is the place to start.


These three are for sale as limited editions:

Harbor Morning

Harbor Morning

Seasons

Seasons

1000 Computer-Generated Paintings

1000 Computer-Generated Paintings

Older projects include two talking heads that ramble on indefinitely:

Uncle Weevy

Uncle Weevy, from 2001, still works in Windows with a little coaxing, last time I checked. Your computer will try to convince you that it's dangerous to download, which it isn't. It's artware, not malware, but Windows can't tell the difference. If you have nerves of steel (or an old Windows computer you were planning to get rid of anyway), run UncleWeevyInstall.exe (10.7 MB). You will need to install a particular version of DirectX 9.0c as well.

Or just click on his picture for a short sample on YouTube.

Steve Headroom

Steve Headroom was created on the Amiga, and served as emcee of the 1993 Binary Visions show in San Francisco.