Modelling the underlying principles of human aesthetic preference in evolutionary art

Our understanding of creativity is limited, yet there is substantial research trying to mimic human creativity in artificial systems and in particular to produce systems that automatically evolve art appreciated by humans. We propose here to study human visual preference through observation of nearly 500 user sessions with a simple evolutionary art system. The progress of a set of aesthetic measures throughout each interactive user session is monitored and subsequently mimicked by automatic evolution in an attempt to produce an image to the liking of the human user

Evolving the Mandelbrot Set to Imitate Figurative Art

Abstract. This chapter describes a technique for generating semi-abstract figurative imagery using variations on the Mandelbrot Set equation, evolved with a genetic algorithm. The Mandelbrot Set offers an infinite supply of complex fractal imagery, but its expressive ability is limited, as far as being material for visual manipulation by artists. The technique described here achieves diverse imagery by manipulating the mathematical function that generates the Set, and defines a superset called Mandeltweak. This treatment may be unsavory from the standpoint of complex number math, but it is rich in terms of visual possibilities. Continuing from an earlier interest in creating animalistic and pseudo-figurative forms by manipulating the function, a technique was developed to evolve figurative forms using a digital image as the objective fitness function for a genetic algorithm. The process has limits in terms of its ability to generate forms that imitate specific detailed images, but this is actually a desired quality, from an artistic standpoint. These limitations also elicit questions about the ability for parametrically-based imaging systems (like fractals) to produce representational art. The analogy to genetics and animal morphology is presented, and this is used as a framework to describe the behavior of the Set as it is pulled out of the complex plane (the canvas upon which the Set is normally painted). It provides a specific vocabulary for describing, and thinking about, figurative art-making