William Latham is a computer scientist and digital media artist from the United Kingdom. He studied fine art at the Royal College of Art and Oxford University. While working for the Advanced Computer Graphics Division of IBM, Latham started working on his "Organic Art." This type of digital media art consists of making 3-Dimensional virtual sculptures using several "organic" shapes and altering their "genetic code" to produce "mutations" in the sculptures. During his employment at IBM, Latham helped develop the "Mutator" program, which allowed users to produce their own "organic" art. Along with Stephen Todd, Latham co-wrote the book Evolutionary Art and Computers. After his career with IBM, Latham helped produce several video games and other technical programs. Latham is currently a professor of computing at the University of London.
Latham's work utilizes natural shapes and colors, but incorporates them in a way that creates an entirely new "organism." These pieces are reminiscent of prehistoric creatures or futuristic microorganisms. His work draws the eye because of the visual interest the "artificial" nature creates. Latham also creates relationships between his pieces through the evolution and natural selection of their "genes." To me, this is quite interesting because Latham's program shows that the evolution of "artificial" nature can be predicted, so why couldn't we predict the evolution of actual organisms with future computer programs?
Latham's Organic Art is not necessarily something that I'd like to hang in my living room, but it effectively engages the eye and the interest of the viewer. The colors of his work stay within the "natural" range with mostly browns, blues, and other earth tones. What is most interesting about the Organic Art is the highly detailed shapes and many 3-Dimensional twists and turns that these shapes make. Combined, these keep the viewer's eye interested. Furthermore, the overall shape that is formed using smaller shapes seems familiar at first, but with a closer look the viewer will realize that it is a completely new shape, or organism. Overall, Latham's work is not the most aesthetically pleasing, but is very interesting to the eye and the mind.
Source Links:
http://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/~mas01whl/bio.htm
http://www.nemeton.com/static/nemeton/axis-mutatis/latham.html
I found the biological aspects of your artist very fascinating. The fact that he could completely mess with the genetic code and alter organisms in a way that is not humanly possible right now is amazing. His art is very interesting in that way but if you look at his piece in a purely artistic point of view it is not very appealing.
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