Proceduralism A distinguishing aspect of my methodology in image synthesis is proceduralism . This year I co-authored the first book on the topic. I'm currently teaching a course on procedural methods for computer graphics. As a proceduralist, I generally constrain my images to be the exact output of a computer program, that program being as terse as possible. From the standpoint of formal logic, this implies that the images are theorems which have been derived in a formal system.
Formal systems are perforce deterministic.
Yet as an artist I am an expressionist , and I claim that my images represent a sort of spiritual self-expression. This juxtaposition of determinism, which if universal precludes free will, and self-expression, which is among the highest manifestations of free will, marks the peculiar artistic process I practice. One of my theses is supporting the claim that this artistic process is more different than other creative processes for the visual arts, than any other new process or medium ever to come along. I claim that this image, among others, represents a sort of spiritual self-expression on my part, as an artist. This is, of course, about as scientifically weak a claim as one can make, as no one can verify it but the claimant.