Jeff Davis is an artist who uses algorithmic processes to create abstract compositions. He’s exhibited his work at Torrance Art Museum, Arizona State University, Lawrence University, the University of Minnesota, the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art and the Center for Contemporary Art in Sacramento. Jeff is the founder of Davis Editions, a publishing company working with leading contemporary artists to produce limited edition prints. He is also the author of two textbooks, Foundations of Design and Foundations of Color.

Jeff started making algorithmic art while he was in college. He attended a small liberal arts university and ended up majoring in mathematics as well as art. When he graduated, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago where he received an MFA in painting and drawing. Eventually, Jeff began experimenting with Excel and how he could use randomized data to make decisions in building geometric compositions in Illustrator, this eventually led him to discover Processing, which has been his tool of choice.

In his series Construction Token, each work is unique and contains a randomized seed that determines the composition of the artwork. This includes the number, orientation, and placement of rectangles, as well as the color selections. Most works are monochromatic, with occasional light or dark variants. In some cases, the script will produce a work using complementary colors.

There can be parallels drawn to examples of the work of Piet Mondrian, who used procedures indebted to Cubism. Mondrian used certain principles—stability, universality, and spirituality—through the yin/yang balancing of horizontal and vertical strokes. These are illusions that can be seen in Davis’ works as well.