Artists have a long tradition of using technology’s most advanced discoveries in their creative work. While art and science may appear to be polar opposites–science the realm of fact and logic, art the realm of imagination and intuition–there is a working unity between them. Scientists and artists are explorers. Leonardo da Vinci once noted that painting “has invented the characters in which the different languages are written, she has given the ciphers to the mathematician, and has described the figures of geometry, she teaches opticians, astronomers, mechanics and engineers.” Today a number of artists have helped scientific researchers use computers to visualize abstract concepts. And scientists have advanced computer technology to the point where any artist can learn to control and use it. Technological development has made the computer an accessible means of personal expression.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“Art From the Computer: An Illinois Survey” is an interesting cross section of current computer art. Much of what has been called computer art has been characterized by a gee-whiz “Look what this thing can do!” approach. But the 29 artists in the survey define themselves by their visions–which their tools allow them to present. These artists work with machines that range from the Macintosh personal computer to the Cray supercomputer and represent a range of aesthetic concerns.
Also on exhibit are a number of two dimensional “pscholograms” by (art)n, a group of technicians and artists, including Dan Sandin and Stephan Meyers, headed by Ellen Sandor. Aids Virus and Nuclear Necrophilia are typical of the pscholograms, which are brightly colored, glow from the light behind them, and seem three-dimensional. Their physical beauty is in stark contrast to their somber subject matter–a provoking contradiction.
“Art From the Computer” provides the viewer with a good feel for the current state of the form, which is destined to become a major force late-20th-century art. But it also indicates how far the medium is from being accepted in the traditional art world. Computer work is virtually absent from commercial galleries and is rarely included in mixed-media exhibits. However, exhibits of computer art alone are becoming more frequent.
