This groundbreaking new exhibition examines the intersection of digital technology and the graphic arts.
Imaging by Numbers surveys the use of computers in printmaking and drawing through approximately 60 works created by nearly 40 North American and European artists from the 1950s to the present.
The exhibition focuses on artists who wrote their own computer code or collaborated with computer engineers. Beginning with photographs of electronic waveforms by Ben Laposky and Herbert Franke, Imaging by Numbers includes drawings made with plotter printers by the likes of Manfred Mohr and Edward Zajec, explorations of virtual worlds composed with 3-D imaging software by David Em, and works created with inventive modifications and combinations of traditional and digital printing techniques by such artists as Lane Hall and Roman Verostko. Contemporary artists writing their own computer programs or altering existing software — Joshua Davis and C.E.B. Reas, for example — are also represented.
Imaging by Numbers is curated by Block Museum senior curator Debora Wood and artist Paul Hertz. The exhibition is generously supported by C. Richard Kramlich and sponsored by http://www.flashpointacademy.com/
see also January 18–April 6, 2008 Alsdorf Gallery
Space, Color, and Motion presents time-based computer artworks by four artists exhibited in the exhibition Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print — Jean-Pierre Hébert, Manfred Mohr, James Paterson, and C.E.B. Reas. These works explore computer-generated motion, an important aspect of computer art not featured in Imaging by Numbers.
For a time-lapse video sample of Jean-Pierre Hébert’s computer-sand tracing installation visit http://hebert.kitp.ucsb.edu/docs/sand-dial.mov.
For a sample of Manfred Mohr’s 2005 animated work P-1011, visit www.emohr.com/www_sub/motion_1011.html
For a sample of James Paterson’s 2005 animated work Davey Jones Locker, visit www.presstube.com/PAGES/PAGE_22/davey_jones_view.htm
For a sample of C.E.B. Reas’ 2004 installation TI, visit reas.com/media/ti_s.mov
Support for Space, Color, and Motion is provided by C. Richard Kramlich, the Alsdorf Endowment, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.