WebGL shader art distills GPU mathematics into pure visual experience. Born from the demoscene tradition and crystallized by Shadertoy's 2013 launch, this aesthetic renders signed-distance-function geometry on pitch-black canvases, wrapping forms in oil-slick iridescence derived from Fresnel equations.

The 2023 renaissance — fueled by Spline, Three.js maturity, and shader-graph tooling — brought fragment-shader visuals to mainstream web portfolios. The look is unmistakable: saturated violet-cyan-pink bloom against void-black, monospace code overlays, and mathematical primitives that feel alive.