Bakshee's graphic work attracted the attention of Wolfram Research in Champaign, Ill., which produces Mathematica , and he started working for the company. He was responsible for developing a sophisticated program called Control System Professional , which extends the use of Mathematica to the engineering, analysis, design, and simulation of control systems. On the side, he continued his design work, creating patterns for textiles, wallpaper, magazine covers, carpeting, gift wrap, ornaments, and tiles. The key to Bakshee's designs is a delicate balance between perfect regularity and complete randomness. Neither pure symmetry nor total disorder makes an attractive image, Bakshee contends.
Small irregularities are important.
It's a bit like writing out mathematical formulas to generate specific designs. The advantage, Bakshee says, is the amount of precise control that you have over what appears on the screen. It's a style that would appeal to those familiar with programming computers or manipulating mathematical expressions. I've spent about a week exploring Artlandia . It's great fun to start with a set of basic instructions, given in the Artlandia manual, then modify the algorithm little by little to see what happens.