John F. Simon, Jr. is interested in the way our culture is increasingly involved with software-driven products and machines. In his work he explores how the software age affects our creative processes, particularly how we manipulate the information we receive from a computer program and what we do when the option we want is not available. He uses computer programming language to create colorful patterns and images that move across wall-mounted LCD screens.

By using computer-based tools, Simon broadens traditional art-making disciplines from finite sets of instructions to the infinite possibilities of algorithms. He creates programs that insure his compositions will never repeat. Not only can Simon alter these programs as they run, but, by writing certain instructions, he has also made it impossible for the programs to change themselves as they incorporate data from a computer’s clock, internet sites, and other sources.

In a self-published booklet Simon explains, “An image may appear with an entirely new structure and function. There is no fast forward – each image may depend on the results from the previous image.” This phenomenon is commonly known as “emergent-behavior.” Like Simon, many scientists and theoreticians, including those at the Santa Fe Institute, are interested in emergent behavior and use it to study organic environments, economic trends, pedestrian thoroughfares, traffic intersections, and much more. When considered within the greater discipline that is involved, Simon’s artwork is truly at the forefront of the recent digital art trend.

John F. Simon, Jr. was selected to receive the Aldrich Museum Trustees Award for an Outstanding Emerging Artist in fall 2000. His software panel works have been exhibited in two important group shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art: the 2000 biennial and BitStreams in 2001. He has had four solo exhibitions at Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, and his work has been collected by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.

Simon holds an MFA degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and an MA in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Washington University, St. Louis. He lives and works in New York City.