If coding is the purest form of art, then lambda calculus may be the purest form of code. Its graphical representation [1] also looks somewhat artistic.

[1] https://tromp.github.io/cl/diagrams.html

‘programming is the art of creating machines simply by describing them.’

it’s the closest thing to ‘spell-casting magic’ I’ll ever know, it finds ways to stay fresh

I do think it can be an art form, and definitely a craft. That's one reason I'm so disheartened by the push to have AI slop replace all our coding efforts.