Probing the Eddies of Dancing Emergence: Complexity and Abstract Painting

Complexity and abstraction provide a fertile frontier by which to express and experience complex systems in art, with integral challenges for abstract painting: Can we create complex art without a computer? What are the simple rules by which to create that art? The author proposes a model of the artist and her materials as a cellular automaton (CA) with eight simple rules. Experiments with the New Kind of Science (NKS) Rule 1599 algorithm, abstract painting and video shorts are discussed with four observations about the plurality of CA visualization, a new abstract visual language that embraces emergence, the discovery of “eddies” of complexity within the paintings, and the resemblance of these eddies to other complex phenomena found in nature and culture. Future exploration merits investigation into the neural basis of art, and experimentation in the synaesthesic experience of complexity.