Fleshy Growth, Yoichiro Kawaguchi

A monumentally important figure, Kawaguchi is a pioneer of computer 3D graphics and of procedural artificial-life work.

Heralded in Frank Popper’s Art of the Electronic Age, this example of the legendary growth algorithm by Kawaguchi stands out in the algorithm’s evolution. According to Popper, “The light, aided by the sophisticated technology of ray tracing recalls the art of Japanese lacquer or porcelain.” [Popper 88]

The same year, Kawaguchi spoke to SIGGRRAPH, saying:

“My pieces are being carried out on a paradigm that ‘growth model is created by the recursive structure of the self-organization, thus being the fruit of complexed form of evolutional cells.’”

Kawaguchi’s growth models, first presented at SIGGRAPH in 1982, are a procedural precursor to later artificial-life and AI art rather than machine learning themselves.