Negotiating gestalt: artistic expression and coalition formation in multiagent systems

We present a system using semi-autonomous agents to help artists express ideas. The agents control their representation on a canvas via interactions in an agent space by themselves and in coalitions. The artist can take direct control if the resulting image is not satisfactory. We have implemented the Surreal engine that realises these ideas and we present a case study of its usage in producing Mondriaan-like paintings.