Casey Edwin Barker Reas (born 1972), also known as C. E. B. Reas or Casey Reas,[1] is an American artist whose conceptual, procedural and minimal artworks explore ideas through the contemporary lens of software. Reas is perhaps best known for having created, with Ben Fry, the Processing programming language.[2]
Education and early work
Reas was born Casey Edwin Barker Reas in 1972 in Troy, Ohio.[3][4] He studied design at the University of Cincinnati[5] and then spent the next two years developing software and electronics as an artistic exploration.[6] While studying design in Cincinnati, Reas was a member of a band called 'nancy' with Scott Devendorf and Matt Berninger, who went on to become members of The National.[7] Reas went on to direct four music videos for the band's 2017 album, Sleep Well Beast.[8][9]
After graduating, Reas began to exhibit his software and installations internationally in galleries and festivals.
Reas's software generated images derive from short software-based instructions that visual create processes. The instructions are expressed in different media including natural language, machine code, and computer simulations, resulting in both dynamic and static images. Each translation reveals a different perspective on the process and combines with the others to produce continually evolving visual traces.[10][11][12]
Since 2012, Reas has incorporated broadcast images into his work, algorithmically distorting them to create abstractions that retain traces of their original, representational function.[14] In 2020, Casey Reas co-founded a platform for showcasing internet art and digital art with curated exhibitions all for sale as non-fungible tokens.[15]
Processing
In 2001, together with MIT PhD candidate Ben Fry, Reas created the Processing programming language.[16][17][18] Processing is widely used by thousands of artists and designers worldwide, and by educators teaching the fundamentals of programing in art and design schools.[19][20]
