Tyler Hobbs

Tyler Hobbs creates digital artworks that are a mix of skill and chance. He codes scripts that generate a unique, digital artwork each time they run, creating hundreds of possibilities. What begins in his hand, the algorithm completes. A lot of the graphic and stylistic choices in Hobbs' work are coded. Repetitive, geometric shapes that are the product of 'loops' – sequences of repeated instructions. The clean lines reflect the technology's inability to be inexact. When he does create a softer, painterly line, he codes it out of hundreds of tiny marks. He also uses a pen plotter to create physical drawings and paintings, some of which he turns into large-scale murals.

Randomness is key to Hobbs' work. He explains, "I certainly never have a finished image in mind whenever I’m first beginning a program". Despite creating precise instructions, some of which he works on for months, a lot is left to chance. He takes inspiration from Sol LeWitt – the American conceptual artist known for favouring idea over outcome. He creates variables with different probabilities, always letting the computer roll the dice. In combining the two, Hobbs shows us what happens when we embrace technology.