Wood artworks with cellular automata patterns

Jeff Cook makes handcrafted art from exotic woods overlaid with patterns generated by cellular automata. You can see his work in person at Chalk Los Angeles through July. From Jeff's Wolfrule site:

Wolfrule Art is based on patterns generated by an extremely primitive computing device, the cellular automaton, which, as postulated by Wolfram, may some day explain the basic principles of much of life and nature. These patterns are used in art constructions made from wood, a basic product of nature, producing art that uses computations to produce patterns that may form the basis of life itself. Both the background and the pattern are made from wood. The selection of contrasting woods, with variations in grain and color, provide a stark and striking exhibition of the geometric patterns computed by the cellular automaton...

Jeff Cook's Wolfrule art

• [Michael Smith]

  I think the special effects people for Blade Runner created similar patterns.

• [Anonymous]

  James Cook’s pieces are stunning, and I can only imagine the time it takes to do these. Before reading, my immediate thought was of inlaid wood QRS codes.

  • [Jeff Cook]

    Funny you should mention QR codes. Two people pointed the similarity out to me before my opening, so I generated and printed QR codes and had them on the wall beside each piece, with title, rule, number of pieces, materials, dimensions, etc, in the QR code. Geeky, but cool. And as for time, yes, the construction time is proportional to the number of individual pieces, with smaller pieces more time-consuming…Jeff Cook

• [Jeff Cook]

  I used Rule 105 in 26 of my 60+ pieces constructed to date, primarily because it generates what I call checkers, stripes, and hats, and these patterns keep reappearing. See Wolfrule #8, 9, & 10 for individual examples (and watch the animation at http://wolfrule.com/animation.html). An expansion of the pattern in the piece (#15) referenced in the article above can be found in a newer piece at http://wolfrule.com/pages/wolfrule30.html

  Enjoy…Jeff

• [Shay Guy]

  111 – 0
  110 – 1
  101 – 1
  100 – 0
  011 – 1
  010 – 0
  001 – 0
  000 – 1

  So that’s… 1+8+32+64… Rule 105, then?