I thought it was really interesting how John Simon wanted us to know that he created his work FOR the gallery, and then gave us a list of characteristics of works that galleries will lean toward such as bright colors. I think many of us were sort of turned off by this (I mean, how unauthentic.. ) yet it does sort of point the spotlight at Simon’s more novel achievements.
Although Color Panel v 1.0, 1999 is his single work featured in our textbook, I feel as if Every Icon represents John F. Simon’s “hallmark” piece. Every Icon shows us that any and every combination of an image is possible, can be made… will be made, is being made and this in a sense devalues every ‘creative’ combination any artist could ever think of. How can anything ever feel new if it has already been done before? I think digital art changes our attitudes toward art in that way. In class we briefly discussed self-expression as something maybe dying (or dead) in art, and to me, this brings value to randomness. I feel as if John F. Simon, Jr. is better represented as a software artist rather than an artist who creates physical works. I appreciate his continuation of Paul Klee’s ideas in his software (like Every Icon, and Plotter Drawings) more than his colorful Josef Albers/Johannes Itten color-study gallery pieces. And based on the fact that Simon overtly told us that he was creating work to be shown in galleries, I think he would agree that his earliest works in software have had the greatest impact on digital art.
I really enjoyed his piece ComplexCity. I find it amazing how he created eight different programs and placed them together to create a digital cityscape that appears to be living and breathing.
Digital Art History 
I thought it was really interesting how John Simon wanted us to know that he created his work FOR the gallery, and then gave us a list of characteristics of works that galleries will lean toward such as bright colors. I think many of us were sort of turned off by this (I mean, how unauthentic.. ) yet it does sort of point the spotlight at Simon’s more novel achievements.
Although Color Panel v 1.0, 1999 is his single work featured in our textbook, I feel as if Every Icon represents John F. Simon’s “hallmark” piece. Every Icon shows us that any and every combination of an image is possible, can be made… will be made, is being made and this in a sense devalues every ‘creative’ combination any artist could ever think of. How can anything ever feel new if it has already been done before? I think digital art changes our attitudes toward art in that way. In class we briefly discussed self-expression as something maybe dying (or dead) in art, and to me, this brings value to randomness. I feel as if John F. Simon, Jr. is better represented as a software artist rather than an artist who creates physical works. I appreciate his continuation of Paul Klee’s ideas in his software (like Every Icon, and Plotter Drawings) more than his colorful Josef Albers/Johannes Itten color-study gallery pieces. And based on the fact that Simon overtly told us that he was creating work to be shown in galleries, I think he would agree that his earliest works in software have had the greatest impact on digital art.
Color and Time: http://numeral.com/colorandtime/
Plotter drawings http://numeral.com/drawings/plotter/thickandthin.html
Every icon: http://numeral.com/appletsoftware/eicon.html
Winds Across the Inner Sea: http://numeral.com/panels/winds
I really enjoyed his piece ComplexCity. I find it amazing how he created eight different programs and placed them together to create a digital cityscape that appears to be living and breathing.