Yuma Yanagisawa is an artist who explores creative computation in the realm of contemporary visual art. With degrees in both Social Science and Human-Computer Interaction, Yuma is fascinated by algorithmic composition–the various ways of creating images using code-based functions. He creates immersive installations and experimental films with real-time computer graphics, which materialize as code-based illustrations from fractals to AI-generated imagery, and photorealistic visualizations using physically-based rendering.

Without a background in traditional art-making techniques like drawing and painting, Yuma relies on code to actualize his ideas. Experimenting with software, and collaborating with code in ways that sometimes escape even his command, Yuma’s interactive outputs flirt with data politics asking how code represents often hard-to-read data sets. His internally chaotic process, glued together by an amalgam of code-based tools that range from drawing tools like Processing to generative tools like GANs, outputs neat and dream-like visuals. These manifest through a wide array of experiences that repurpose data samples into smooth liquid motion graphics and colorful, dreamy pixelscapes.

Unconfined to the computer screen, Yuma has actualized his work through large-scale projection mapping, touch-interactive interfaces, sculptural video display objects, and even mobile-enabled augmented reality activations. With nods to abstract visual artists who work with code—like Refik Anadol and Daniel Canogar—present throughout his works, Yuma is representative of a new generation of artistic talent that deploys creative technologies in unexpected and non-traditional modes.