TSP Art

To learn more about TSP Art (art constructed by solving instances of the Traveling Salesman Problem), visit my Making TSP Art page or Craig S. Kaplan's TSP Art page. To see the "labyrinthine projections" of the artist J. Eric Morales (Mo), visit his Virtual Mo - Online Art Gallery page.

To see some of my favorite pieces of my own TSP Art, stay here and scroll down.

1. Knot?

I made this piece for the CPAIOR 2006 conference in Cork, Ireland. From a distance, the picture looks like a knot. Yet it isn't. If you get close enough, you'll see that it's just a loop.

2. Two hands, one loop

From a distance, it appears that Adam's finger and God's finger have just broken contact. Yet from up close, it becomes apparent that they are connected. The entire picture is comprised of a single black loop.

3. One loop, three configurations

This is a series of three pieces based on the work of Andy Warhol. Each loop is exactly the same length (45.5 feet when printed on 8.5" by 11" paper).

4. Question and answer

These two pieces are based on Andy Warhol's Soup Cans. The first is "Question: What's Inside?", and the second is "Answer: This is!".

5. The Da Vinci Curve

6. George Dantzig

George Dantzig (1914-2005) was the father of linear programming and the inventor of the Simplex Method, the most widely used algorithm for solving linear programs. In 1954, with Ray Fulkerson and Selmer Johnson, Dantzig published a description of a method for solving large-scale instances of the TSP to optimality. For the 2006 INFORMS conference held in Pittsburgh, I created a 25,000-city TSPortrait of Dantzig.

7. Linking the In and Out

I constructed this continuous line drawing by solving a 1500-city instance of the TSP. I drew the line (the tour) with white ink. It divides the plane into two regions: In (red) and Out (black). From a distance, the piece resembles an alternating link, a knot made of two interlaced strands---one red, and one black.

8. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Black Fish

This is another piece of TSP Art in which the interior of the curve is colored red and the exterior is colored black.

9. Outside Ring

A third piece in the series. Note that the "inner" ring is actually on the outside.

All images are copyright 2006-2007 by Robert Bosch. You are free to use them for personal and non-commercial purposes. Please check with me about any other uses.


Robert Bosch Last updated: 14-Oct-2007