Machine Art
In his »ART EX MACHINA« portfolio the Canadian gallerist and publisher Gilles Gheerbrant presents works by six international protagonists of early computer-generated art in one computer art edition, that constitutes, in its own right, a small collection.
Art Ex Machina
»Art Ex Machina« was published in 1972 in Montréal, in an edition of 200 copies. It contains six serigraphs, each with an artist's statement printed on the cover sheet, a title plate, plus two text tables—one in French, one in English—»ars ex machina« by Abraham A. Moles.
The six participating artists are: computer art pioneer Hiroshi Kawano of Japan; from the U.S.A.: Kenneth C. (Ken) Knowlton; from Spain: Manuel Barbadillo, and from Germany: the digital art pioneers Frieder Nake, Georg Nees and—based in Paris and New York—Manfred Mohr.
The title of the portfolio, »Art Ex Machina«—hints, just like
»Deus ex machina«—alludes to the unexpected, coincidental, and surprising effects that a machine can generate.
Experimenting with chance and serendipity (e.g., by means of random number generators) is a frequently used »art generator« in algorithmic art.
Computer Art Serigraphs
Gheerbrant was one of the first gallerists to introduce computer art into the official art market. The printing technique of choice was that of hand-executed screen prints.
The serigraphs of this portfolio were printed by Pierre Foisy.
Why printed by hand?
First, this technique enabled the creation of expansive, vividly colored renditions of computer-generated works—achieving a level of expressiveness that computerized machine drawings of the time were technically unable to match. (Nevertheless, Frieder Nake, for example, opted for a pure reproduction of the original machine-generated line drawing.)
Second, largely thanks to Andy Warhol, serigraphy ranked among the printing techniques accepted by the art market as possessing artistic value; the original plots of these same graphics, which had been produced by computer-controlled drawing machines, were, by contrast, not accepted by the mainstream art market as a drawing technique of value at that time.
Availability
Available: price on request
See some of the prints here...
Hiroshi Kawano
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Hiroshi Kawano: untitled (Red Tree)
from the portfolio »Art Ex Machina«
generated on IBM 360/75, with Fortran IV
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Ken Knowlton
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Ken Knowlton: untitled
from the portfolio »Art Ex Machina«
generated on IBM 7094, with EXPLORE
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Manfred Mohr
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Manfred Mohr: untitled
from the portfolio »Art Ex Machina«
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