artMachine: Circus Brain

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What if a circus exploded in your brain, in slow motion?

Circus Brain is a Light Dreams artMachine utilizing the simple composition of a complex radial gradation overlayed on the center of a horizontal background created with a complex linear gradation. The radial gradations are somehwhat more complex than Color Om's, and show an obvious debt to Kenneth Noland and others. Circus Brain can also be seen in the header area of The artMachine is an infinite loop that creates a new composition using random numbers at a set time interval. Each composition is a unique creation, never seen before.

The art-generating code of my new computer art project artMachine comes from my longtime interest in algorithmic composition. The graphics are generated randomly in HTML5’s <canvas> by a program I wrote in JavaScript that also incorporates jQuery. These works are in the Light Dreams series.

As a painter and photographer I’ve always been interested in 2D composition. I’ve found that relatively simple computer programs can produce compositions which are pleasing, and it only requires artistic exploration to find methods which are pleasing more often than not. I personally like lots of the compositions generated by artMachine. I enjoy most of the colors, which might be too many for standard tastes. More sophisticated color algorithms are to come.

Move your mouse to the bottom of the screen or touch the screen to access controls for fullscreen viewing, composition variations, and longer time intervals.


Here are some of the random compositions produced by Circus Brain.