A computer algorithm that modifies images by mimicking the rules of natural selection can work with people to evolve novel works of art

Artistic evolution (Image: Yasuhiro Suzuki/Nagoya University, Japan)

A NEW breed of art has evolved. A computer program has been built that creates digital artworks using algorithms that mimic natural selection.

Yasuhiro Suzuki at Nagoya University in Japan and colleagues built the software after learning how artistic methods are passed down through generations.

“Paintings that have remained to the present were painted by scaling, rotating and combining motifs that had already existed,” he says. This appeared to echo the process of biological evolution, in which traits are inherited and altered from parent to child.


To use the program, a person first indicates the style of art that they like. Then they select a picture from a few preloaded images to feed into an algorithm. The algorithm mutates the image in different ways: chopping it in half, overlaying it on another image or randomly altering it. The resulting images are either culled or kept depending on how closely they adhere to the user’s initial stylistic choices, and the process repeats. The person can stop the process at any time and select an image they like, or let it keep running. Finally, the person adds colour to the image, as the program currently manipulates the images in black and white.

The team tested its program with different sets of preferences and starting images, letting it run for up to 4800 generations at a time. This resulted in several images, including one called “A witch who looks to the distance” (pictured), which began with a picture of a four-leaf clover. Another that started with a sketch of a pair of scissors became a hazy depiction of a woman in profile, lifting one hand to her face.

In the past, artists have tried to endow computers with a form of creative process – one robot has even had its work on display at London’s Tate Modern museum.

Kurt Ralske, an artist at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, uses algorithms in his computer-based work as a labour-saving device. But he cautions that computers won’t replace artists.

“Algorithms are not useful for the style of art and art-making that is intensely personal, cathartic and introspective,” he says. “Where algorithms do help is in the crafting of a system or situation which can produce interesting results. The algorithm just provides the muscle.”

Suzuki’s team is interested in incorporating colour into the program. They are also exploring whether they can evolve pieces that look similar to paintings by renowned artists.

Using an original Michelangelo as the starting image, for example, the team could evolve pictures that capture the style of the Renaissance master. Even though it would be produced by an algorithm, Suzuki says such a work could be considered to have been created by Michelangelo. “I think the man-machine has potential for creating new kinds of art,” he says.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Artistic evolution”