Brigham Young University computer scientists Dan Ventura, David Norton, and Derrall Heath (from left to right) are developing a computer program that analyzes artwork — Digital Artist Communicating Intent (DARCI). By feeding DARCI thousands of images and adjectives, the programmers are teaching the computer program to recognize specific visual qualities.

Last month, the team brought DARCI to the Conference on Creativity and Cognition at the High Museum in Atlanta. They invited artists to upload their images to be judged by DARCI. The program scored works according to simple but secret criteria; images scoring over 70 out of a possible 100 were "accepted" while lower scorers were "rejected." The accepted work was displayed in a temporary exhibition at the museum. The image on the laptop screen, submitted by Kellam Mattie, scored a 73.

DARCI gave another piece by Kellam Mattie a 78.

DARCI gave artist Gina Deininger's triptych of female figures a 20, making it ineligible for the exhibition.

Deininger's abstract map was also rejected by DARCI.

Reporter Philip Graitcer's six-year-old grandson, George, scored a 24 for his paper collage portrait.

Programmers fed DARCI an image of Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907) — it was also rejected with a score of 26.