Casey Edwin Barker Reas (born 1972), also known asC. E. B. Reas orCasey 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, withBen Fry, theProcessing programming language.[2]
Reas was born Casey Edwin Barker Reas in 1972 in Troy, Ohio.[3][4] He studied design at theUniversity 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' withScott Devendorf andMatt Berninger, who went on to become members ofThe 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 showcasinginternet art and digital art with curated exhibitions all for sale asnon-fungible tokens.[15]
In 2001, together with MIT PhD candidateBen Fry, Reas created theProcessing 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]
