The human touch, with a cyber soul

Moving beyond fractals and skins, the online gallery www.complexification.net examines a new dimension in the relationship between computer science and fine art.

Albuquerque-based computer programmer-artist-author Jared Tarbell, 31, designs computer programs to render intricate -- and seemingly infinite -- artwork. To create his site’s “Gallery” pieces, Tarbell runs a specific program, saves the resulting image and then has the computer repeat the process while it randomly tweaks elements and variables of his code to create newer abstract images. Visitors can click on a “launch applet” button on individual “Living Works,” and Tarbell’s programs re-create and evolve on screen. The hypnotic process is analogous to watching a cross between a screensaver program and an Etch-a-Sketch gone wild.

Inspired by what he describes as “patterns found in nature and the algorithms that have been invented to describe them,” Tarbell’s artwork runs the gamut from simple and elegant to pieces that are reminiscent of psychedelic fractals. “Buddhabrot” has an eerie, spectral quality -- like an X-ray of an angel. But this medium does not exist on the Web alone -- many images found on complexification.net are available as signed, limited-edition archival digital prints.

Tarbell says that much like an apprentice, the computers do most of the work in the production of the final image, but he’s not worried about his role becoming outmoded.

“[The computer creates] by my specific instruction. So if we call the computer the artist in this case, I might be considered the ‘meta-artist.’ ”