James Merrill is a generative and plotter artist based in Vermont whose work spans digital imagery, animation, physical pen-plotter drawings, and interactive installations, all built from generative code exploring mathematics.He has worked in code-based art for about twenty years, moving from vector animation in Macromedia Flash to physical plotter drawing after discovering the medium's drawing machines.
For Every Moment he used matrix transformations to render a 3D scene in two dimensions, letting a curving line slice and bend polygons while a randomized camera position gives each generated iteration its own vantage point. His interest in plotters led him to collaborate on NFTs paired with physical artworks with artists including Casey Reas, Tyler Hobbs, Aleksandra Jovanić, and Licia He.In 2023 he showed Breakpoint. in “+GRAPH”, a Feral File exhibition curated by Casey Reas, and separately published a public code review of Tyler Hobbs's Fidenza (2021).
His 2025 Art Blocks Curated project BUSY pairs a generative algorithm, built over a year in JavaScript without AI, with instructions that drive plotting machines to draw each output on paper. An edition of 50 ink drawings, BUSY on Paper, was produced in his studio in 2025, alongside a 5-piece large-format edition, BUSIEST, auctioned that April on Art Blocks. He also staged live installations that plotted the algorithm on-site, drawing local landmarks into BUSY In Marfa (Texas, 2024) and BUSY In Istanbul at the Istanbul Digital Art Festival (2025).
