Art can be created in an unlimited number of ways, from the conventional sweeping of a paintbrush on a canvas to something abstract like leaving a pair of glasses in the corner of an art gallery - both artistic methods that the average 21st century office worker rarely practises.

However millions of us develop advanced skills in Microsoft Excel as part of our jobs (other spreadsheet products are available, apparently), but don’t realise that these skills can be used to create art!

How it Works - The Maths

If Cells A and B contain static numbers, and Cell C = A + B, then the number in cell C will always be the same.

However if a random element is added, so Cell C = (A + B) x Random Number, and so Cell C will be different every time. In Excel, this is done using the RAND() function.

If then Cell D is also dependent on the numbers in Cells A, B, C and a Random Number, then you can see how the numbers are going to end up very different every single time. When this continues across a large spreadsheet with 1000 cells wide and 500 cells high, there are half a million cells with numbers that change every time the spreadsheet is refreshed.

How it Works - The Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting uses rules to highlight cells in a certain format based on the cell values. For instance, it can be used to highlight in red any cells where the cell value is larger than 40.

If multiple layers of conditional formatting are added to a spreadsheet fully of everchanging maths as described above, then suddenly they’re no longer cells - they are pixels! And just like the paintbrush against the canvas, the art is only limited by our own creativity.