Gary Greenfield
Artists
Gary Greenfield
Professor Emeritas of Mathematics & Computer Science
University of Richmond
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Statement
Most of my computer generated artworks arise from visualizations of mathematical, physical, or biological processes. I want to focus the viewer's attention on the complexity and intricacy underlying such processes. Most recently, I have been exploiting the tension that arises when generating minimalist art using complex processes.
Artworks
CF Transient #30-58-35797
20 x 10 cm
Digital print
2019
Place finitely many chips at each vertex of a finite graph. The chip firing cellular automaton whose cells are vertices and states are the number of chips is defined by the transition rule: every vertex that has at least as many chips as neighbors distributes one chip to each of its neighbors. When the graph is a cycle, after the transient phase, the period is either two or a divisor of the number of vertices, therefore the length of the transient phase is of interest. This 30 x 120 iteration history of a period two automata with 30 vertices and 58 chips where at most three chips are initially assigned to any vertex has transient phase length 119. Cells are colored gray, olive, chocolate or blue according as there are 0, 1, 2 or 3 chips.