Casey Reas is a New Media Artist who likes to focus in on
the artwork, mostly created digitally by software and programming, which
explores the ideas randomness, chaos, and order. Reas, during his Chance
Operations talk at the Eyeo Festival, brought many pieces and processes to my
attention, which have drastically changed over the century as technology has
evolved. My favorite pieces, and most thought provoking, were the biomedical
inspired digitalization prints showing cancer and skin. The prints are so unique
and bold that they, in my opinion, would awe anybody who took the time to
notice them. The idea of creating such striking images by assigning certain
movements or actions based on data really makes me think about the technical
aspects of the codes used. Certainly I did enjoy listening to him talk about
his collaboration piece, featured on the outside of a music hall, which
randomized not only the order of the images, but the way the images were laid
out and displayed themselves, of pieces of the under-construction building.
Processes such as these opened my mind to new ways of thinking about art and
abstraction. Using algorithms, an artist can create a truly unique piece to
bring to the world, all using the skills of understanding how to randomize a
program.