Andy Lomas (born 1967 in

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a British artist with a

mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

background, formerly a television and film CG supervisor and more recently a contemporary

digital art Digital art, or the digital arts, is artistic work that uses Digital electronics, digital technology as part of the creative or presentational process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960 ...

ist, with a special interest in

morphogenesis Morphogenesis (from the Greek ''morphê'' shape and ''genesis'' creation, literally "the generation of form") is the biological process that causes a cell, tissue or organism to develop its shape. It is one of three fundamental aspects of deve ...

using

mathematical morphology Mathematical morphology (MM) is a theory and technique for the analysis and processing of Geometry, geometrical structures, based on set theory, lattice theory, topology, and random functions. MM is most commonly applied to digital images, but it ...

. Lomas previously worked on

visual effect Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

s using

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...

( CGI) for television and films such as ''

The Matrix Reloaded ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the sequel to ''The Matrix'' (1999) and the second installment in the ''Matrix'' film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, L ...

'' (2003), ''

The Matrix Revolutions ''The Matrix Revolutions'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. The direct sequel to ''The Matrix Reloaded,'' it is the third installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, released six months foll ...

'' (2003) and ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

'' (2009). before becoming a digital artist. In 2006 he appeared in ''The Tech of 'Over the Hedge, a short documentary. With his collaborators, in 1999 Lomas won the

51st Primetime Emmy Awards The 51st Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 12, 1999. The ceremony show was hosted by Jenna Elfman and David Hyde Pierce. It was broadcast on Fox. The comedy-drama ''Ally McBeal'' won Outstanding Comedy Series, which not only ...

'' Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries or a Movie'' for the 1999 film ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

''. Lomas's works are displayed in the form of

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

s, still images, and sculptures, produced using a mathematical programming approach. Some works include collaborative music, by Max Cooper for example. His artworks are inspired by the work of

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...

D'Arcy Thompson Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson CB FRS FRSE (2 May 1860 – 21 June 1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician and classics scholar. He was a pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology, travelled on expeditions to the Bering Strait ...

, and

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...

. Lomas won the 2014 international Lumen Prize '' Gold Award'' for

, the top category. He has exhibited at the Butler Institute of American Art (

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

, USA), the Computing Commons Art Gallery (

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

), the

Los Angeles Center for Digital Art The Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA), established in April 2004, acts as a gallery for the display of digital artworks in Los Angeles, California, United States. The founder and director of the gallery is Rex Bruce. The first LACDA venue ...

, and

SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference centered around computer graphics organized by ACM, starting in 1974 in Boulder, CO. The main conference has always been held in North ...

. In June–July 2016, Lomas held a solo exhibition of his work at the

Watermans Arts Centre Watermans Art Centre is a combined arts centre. It is located in Brentford, England alongside the banks of the River Thames overlooking Kew Gardens in West London, England. It includes a 239-seat theatre, a 125-seat movie theatre, cinema two g ...

in west

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which has been acquired by the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

for its collection. His work is also held in the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum art collection at the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, funded by the UK

Art Fund Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as ...

. In 2019, he contributed a chapter to the book '' Museums and Digital Culture''. By way of summarizing his technique, Lomas counts himself among those who have entered into a "hybrid" relationship with the computer, wherein the latter is used to quickly generate a series of visual images based on an original idea or algorithm. Lomas was previously appointed as a Visiting Lecturer at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in the Bartlett School of Architecture and subsequently became a Lecturer in Creative Computing at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

. His work is held in the

and

Computer Arts Society The Computer Arts Society (CAS) was founded in 1968, in order to encourage the creative use of computers in the arts. Foundation The three founder members of the Society – Alan Sutcliffe, George Mallen, and John Lansdown – had been involved ...

collections. In 2024, Lomas produced an animation generated using morphogenesis techniques as the official video for ''The Sun In A Box'' by the electronic musician Max Cooper.

References

External links

* * 1967 births Living people People from Welwyn Garden City British visual effects artists People in the computer animation industry English contemporary artists British digital artists British video artists Mathematical artists Academics of University College London Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Primetime Emmy Award winners Algorithmic art Mathematical morphology {{UK-artist-stub