What is art? It’s not an easy question to answer, especially with new techniques and mediums being developed all the time. By definition, art can be basically summed up as the creative expression of an individual through some medium.

For Japanese artist Tatsuo Horiuchi, that medium is one that is familiar to those in and out of the software art world.

Tatsuo Horiuchi Excels at His Craft…

…in a very literal sense. His art is not formed by clay or paint, but instead, the cells found in a Microsoft Excel worksheet.

Upon his retirement from his work as a medical equipment engineer, Tatsuo wanted to keep himself occupied, and his thoughts turned to becoming an artist. Lacking the supplies to do so traditionally (as well as the desire to invest in these supplies), the burgeoning artist decided to utilize a tool that he already had access to: Excel.

As he had never actively used the software for his work, Tatsuo dove into learning about the software and its features, teaching himself how to use different tools to accomplish different things. The autoshape feature helps with the overall design, the graph-focused line tool was repurposed to create trees, and the fill tool allows him to accomplish the shading that amplifies a painting’s depth. Gradually teaching himself these little tricks, Tatsuo’s process began in 2000 with the goal of creating something he would be willing to show to people within 10 years. His first three years were focused on learning to use Excel’s tools to create recognizable shapes and objects, while the next three were focused on combining them all into a cohesive image. In 2006, he won the Excel Autoshape Art Contest.

Since then, Tatsuo’s art has been featured at the Gunma Museum of Art, an honor shared by the likes of Monet and Renoir.

You can check out some of his work here.

One Moral of the Story: Technology Can Be Leveraged in Many Ways

All it takes is a bit of ingenuity. That being said, we don’t want your business to go without the information technology that would benefit its processes—or that keeps it compliant with various regulations and requirements.

Our team at Symmetric IT Group has been providing Tampa IT Support since 2008, and we’d love the opportunity to help you with yours. While we can’t promise to turn your team into award-winning software art creators, we can help them do more with their technology. Find out more about our managed IT services and what they can help you accomplish by calling 813-749-0895.