These images were created entirely with procedural shaders. Nothing in them was painted by hand.
Instead of drawing shapes or textures directly, I built systems of mathematical patterns that generate detail automatically. By layering noise functions, distortions, and color rules, complex surfaces emerge from simple ingredients.
At the time this was an experiment in letting systems produce imagery rather than constructing it manually. Small changes to the rules could generate entirely new landscapes, somewhere between microscopic structures and vast geological terrain.
The final images were printed as large-format canvases at 15,400 × 15,400 pixels, measuring roughly 44 inches square. Up close the surfaces feel almost cellular. From a distance they read as alien landscapes.
These pieces were exhibited in the Synaesthesia exhibition at SIGGRAPH 2004, which explored the intersection of art, perception, and digital technology.
Looking back, this project sits at the beginning of a thread that runs through much of my work: curiosity about how creative systems can generate forms that feel both natural and unexpected.
February 5, 2024