Xisal

Xisal is my magnum opus; at least to me, and at least for now. While Calyxia, Statix and Ingxolo produce deliberately blocky, glitched-out pieces, Xisal is smooth and refined, with sweeping gradients and gentle intersections between formulae. It was the first piece where I really planned out what I wanted, and the programming took some time. The seed value maps out to a huge range of options, each carefully limited to specific ranges. It's colourful, vivid, and only occasionally does a little chaos creep in…

Xisal works on three separate algorithms, formed from separate mini-algorithms that are combined in various ways. In turn, these are combined according to a fourth algorithm. It's a process I think of as modular, though it has nothing to do with modular arithmetic.

Xisal was also one of my first pieces where I implemented interactive controls. Almost every aspect of the algorithm can be altered whilst the program is running, and I use this to create variations of each Xisal piece without having to constantly stop and re-run the program. My idea, bold in its execution, was to mint a single, high-quality Xisal piece, accompanied by three or four variations in a higher edition. My ambitions have, perhaps, outstripped my patience: the process I've imposed on myself takes organisation, time and with that comes a reduction in the joy of the art.

I've also made something of a burden for myself with the naming procedure. Whilst 'Xisal_790902_Var01_r05_d05_a03_b02' is a descriptive title, it's hardly memorable, and makes finding it in a list of pieces something of a chore.

Xisal is beautiful, but as with many beautiful things, it comes with baggage…