Simon also is known for other pieces like \u201cComplexCity,\u201d a series of digital works in which the street grid, traffic pattern, and height of skyscrapers continually shape shift, a representation of the constant change of a city.<\/p>\n
But Simon might not be as well known for his undergraduate degree in geology, his master\u2019s in earth and planetary science, and an MFA in computer art.<\/p>\n The place between art and science, that\u2019s where early in his career Simon says he thought he\u2019d be \u2013 \u201cwhere art and science would kind of meld, where you\u2019d see some sculpture, a painting, and things that are kind of like art done with a scientific concept that\u2019s output in an artistic way.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that was never deeply satisfying enough for me,\u201d he says, \u201cand I felt eventually that the categorization of science and art, this kind of academic categorization, was made to separate the two. My approach [now] is creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s something both scientists and artists must have in abundant supply.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we look back to the Renaissance period especially, science and art weren\u2019t as separate as they are now,\u201d says Wendy Wischer, visiting director of UConn\u2019s Contemporary Art Galleries<\/a>, where a reimagined version of Simon\u2019s \u201cComplexCity\u201d is on display as part of the exhibition, \u201cData Infused.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cArtists and scientists do the same thing,\u201d she says, summarizing a sentiment from writer K.C. Cole. \u201cThey start by observation and then recognize patterns that are often overlooked by others. That kind of imagination, seeking out of patterns, connecting threads of what may initially seem like separate entities is one of the things that artists and scientists do all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cData Infused\u201d is Wischer\u2019s first curation at the Galleries, after coming to UConn in the fall. In it, she\u2019s included works from artists like Simon who\u2019ve each studied subjects including computer science, architecture, graphic design, and artificial intelligence, all of which have influenced their creative outputs.<\/p>\n Take Nettrice Gaskins, for instance, whose piece \u201cAfro-Generative Tableaux Variations\u201d uses AI to remix the colorful swirls that dance around the side profile of a Black woman who remains stationary in the center.<\/p>\n \u201cVariations,\u201d Wischer explains, shows how AI moves through the variations of color and shape to help an artist, or an observer as in this case, assess the infinite options. Gaskins made the piece specifically for this show to give people a look at how AI aids in art making.<\/p>\n Richard Garet used bits of sound in his two pieces, \u201cPerceptual; Star\u201d and \u201cPerceptual; Glowing Wedge,\u201d to create images of pulsing colors, then stripped away the auditory component, leaving only the moving image.<\/p>\n The act of using what many would call scientific data for such artistic inspiration is what links the pieces, Wischer says, along with the fact that all the artists, as with Simon, maintain a traditional art practice that includes drawing and painting despite producing work that hinges on technology.<\/p>\n That\u2019s something, she says, that UConn graduate students asked for when she surveyed them about what they\u2019d like to see in the gallery. AI, data visualization, and Afrofuturism topped the list. They also wanted to see novel ways artists make art and viewers consume it, such as those pieces sold as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens that live on the blockchain.<\/p>\n \u201cScientists are great at data visualization. But their role is to be removed from any kind of emotional or personal attachment,\u201d Wischer says about the art-science connection. \u201cArtists can come in and ask questions without having an answer. Art can provoke emotions. It can link personal experience with the scientific in a way that makes it more digestible.\u201d<\/p>\n Ira Greenburg – whose \u201cCyberStructures\u201d depicts a bird\u2019s eye view of a computer\u2019s architecture, its chips and cards and CPU rising and falling like the towers and low-rises of a city \u2013 not only writes the computer code needed to generate his work but uses AI to influence it as he processes the thousands of iterations technology provides.<\/p>\n Wischer says all the artists in the show are at the forefront of using technology like AI in the development of their work. It\u2019s one reason she hopes people from other departments at UConn outside Art and Art History<\/a> visit the show.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping there\u2019s something for everyone and that it evokes a curiosity to learn more,\u201d she says. \u201cWhether someone is attracted to the digital and they find something new in the physical, or someone who is attracted to the physical finds something in the digital, one of my goals was to bring together these various communities.\u201d<\/p>\n And she means that literally.<\/p>\n![\"Artist](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/JohnSimonJr_Traffic-Jam-from-Complex-City-2025-168x300.jpg\")
![\""Cyberstructures,"](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/IraGreenberg_CyberStructures-2023-300x300.jpg\")