Agar is a generative art project inspired by abstract expressionism, pixel art, and the grid rules studied in graphic design. Color, the essential element of pixel art, gives life to simple shapes and defines a composition. Playing against the rigidity of a pixel grid, Agar exuberantly uses 100 different color palettes—each one appearing exactly once in the 100 outputs.

The series embraces the aesthetics of pixel art while reimagining its formal constraints. Instead of using only squares, Agar introduces circles as another basic shape. The squares and circles are arranged on a regular grid, but they vary in size—within a fixed set of eight dramatically varying scales—to create dynamic compositions.

The title comes from a gelatinous substance, derived from seaweed, that is used to grow bacteria and other microorganisms in petri dishes. It relates to the idea of cellular life forms growing on the matrix of a pixel grid, and the diversity of shapes and colors that can be found in nature. Agar asks: what if squares and circles are the building blocks of digital life? What forms might evolve to live on the screen?

Agar is a celebration of the beauty possible within constraints. Through color, it invites us to imagine new forms of life and art on the digital canvas.

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Emily Edelman

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