These three interrelated discoveries completely changed my world view by showing me that much of the complexity we find in nature can be simulated and emulated using relatively basic algorithms.
That changed when I started to write code in graduate school and learned about three new topics within a few weeks of each other: However, I developed a math phobia early on and never saw what, for many, is the obvious thread between the worlds of art, math, and nature. I frequently sketched and painted from nature. This essay is for the exhibition The Game of Life - Emergence in Generatiive Art, online at Kate Vass Gallery and is, in part, a tribute to the work of mathematician John Horton Conway, who passed away on April 11th, 2020, from COVID-19.įor many people, it is hard to see the elegant connection that exists between art, math, and nature.
