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By Terry Telford

Beyond bits and binary code, there is beauty.

Giving viewers an opportunity to see what happens when information meets inspiration, “A Computer Blaze of Colors,” a new exhibit of computer-generated art, opens Thursday evening at the Arts Council of Kern Center for the Arts at J.P. Jennings.

Bill Tomlinson, a philosophy professor at California State University Northridge, is the unlikely creator who uses programming to bring his evolving art form to light.

Although not trained as an artist, Tomlinson became intrigued by the combinations of pixels he was able to manipulate through programming. He found that he was able to “generate specific effects and … tune the programs to control those effects” to get a result with an “interesting and beautiful dynamic.” The specifics on how the programming works is more intricate than the average layperson might care to comprehend. However, the art which it generates is simply remarkable.

Instead of the dull or cold images one might expect from a source as innocuous as a computer program, bright spikes of startling colors explode from the canvas in an unexpected array of brilliance.

Tomlinson, who divides his year between residence in Pine Mountain Club and Canada, began seriously experimenting with the freeware program FutureBASIC about a year ago. His “guiding goal is beauty,” but he also says sometimes, “I appreciate a piece that may not be beautiful but is interesting or amazing in some way.”

It does not take a background in computer science to appreciate the artistic endeavors of an artist who seeks beauty as a way of experiencing life and finding meaning.

An excerpt from Tomlinson’s essay Witnessing Beauty, which can be found on his website (web.mac.com/billtomlinson), states, “Because beauty is often hidden, since it comes in various unexpected forms, if we want to see it in those hidden places we must pay close attention or we might miss it.”

The unexpected beauty of Bill Tomlinson’s computer-generated art will be on display at the ACK Center for the Arts at J.P. Jennings, 1700 Chester Avenue, from June 25 to July 31. The opening reception takes place Thursday, July 1, at 6 p.m. Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served. For more information or to RSVP for the event, contact the Arts Council of Kern at 661-324-9000 or Heritage of America at 661-325-5098.