Here's Jackson Pollock as a Robotic Painting Machine

The beauty of Jackson Pollock’s painting was its apparent randomness, even if he had some idea of what he was doing throughout his process. Media artist ::vtol::, a.k.a., Dimitry Morozov, riffs on this with electropollock, an electro-mechanical drawing machine that basically looks like a robotic printer unfurling a stream of abstract painted images.

In the video, viewers can hear various pieces of music playing. But this music isn’t simply incidental—it's actually a part of the robotic drawing system.

“The machine is driven by the music, which is analyzed by a special algorithm that controls electric valves, servo motors with brushes, and special fan intended for paint spraying,” Morozov explains. “Depending on the frequency and amplitude of peaks of music, the device varies the intensity of ink supply, the speed with which the paper is moving, and the activity of the brushes.”

The robot’s brushwork has a kind of rhythmic quality to it. While the machine is fairly primitive, it should get viewers thinking about what sort of visual art artificially intelligent robots will create in the future.

::vtol:: electropollock from ::vtol:: on Vimeo.

Click here to see more of ::vtol::’s work.

Related:

This Cybernetic Device Turns Brainwaves into Telepathic Art

An Autonomous New Gadget Makes Light and Sound Art

Control a Robotic Wing with Your Ear in Germany