Allen Hirsh

Most digital artists use commercial software tools, e.g. Adobe Photoshop™. Instead, I manipulate my images solely with equations in computer software I have written. Using my equations as virtual brushes and paint I explore the patterns hidden in photographs, previously transformed images, and their hybrids. My art doesn’t look like traditional mathematical art, e.g. fractal art, because I strive to create textures and abstractions that are as “painterly” as possible. I often combine images that are seemingly incompatible, e.g. flowers and printers, Dutch windmills and people, or cafes and vases of silk flowers. I usually seek to explore beauty in my images. This flows naturally from my love of gardening. We know that many of the most precious things in our lives are the beautiful and priceless gifts bestowed by the natural world: flowers, trees, butterflies and birds. It is that beauty that I want my work to represent.

BS Biology California Institute of Technology 1970
Columbia University Neurophysiology, 1970-1973
PhD Plant Physiology University of MD, College Park 1985