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«The cathode-ray tube will replace the canvas». (quoted by Nam June Paik in Goodman (1990) p. 252).

Computer art was a term introduced in 1960 by the computer scientist William Fetter who worked for the Boeing Company. As Goodman (1990) p. 252, puts it, the term [Computer art] covers a wide range of outcomes, everything from:

Spinning logos that identify the television networks, to flight-simulation techniques that train pilots to fly plans while remaining on the ground, to cross-section of the human skull and brain generated by computer-aided tomography (The CAT scan), to an electronically generated painting of two female nudes by Philip Pearlstein

Further Goodman claims that early computer art were merely limited to black linear mathematical representations digitally drawn on white backgrounds. As an early example of such art she refers to the art work «Gaussian Quadratic» created by Michael Noll in 1963.

In my last blog entry I wrote about Picasso and his abstract art. According to Goodman, Noll was in fact very fascinated by the work of Picasso in his creation of  the «Gaussian Quadratic» in 1963, Noll says he was directly inspired by Picasso’s «Ma Jolie» (see fig 1). Two years later he created  his Computer Composition with Lines with strong associations to Piet Mondrian’s famous oil painting Composition no 10 Pier and Ocean (1915) (see figs 2A and 2B).

noll4

Fig 1 Gaussian Quadratic (1963) by A. Michael Noll

A R T   V I D E O S

Goodman also introduces Nam June Paik as the «father of Videoart» (p.252). See video 1 below:


Video 1

Another Computer filmmaker who had created art videos with abstract forms since the mid 60s was John Whitney. Fascinated by all the opportunities that existed in the new computer technology, Whitney meant that «…computers are revealing an exciting and fertile new world of visual expression» (p. 252). below is an example of Whitney’s art videos (see fig 2).


Video 2

References:

Goodman, C. (1990). The Digital Revolution: Art in the Computer Age. Art Journal, 49(3), p.248.

Image sources:

Figure 1: Noll, M. A (1963) Gaussian Quadratic [Computer Artwork] At: http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/artwork/4 (Accessed on 14.12.2014).

Figure 2A: Noll, M. A (1965) Computer Composition with Lines [Computer Artwork] At: http://dam.org/artists/phase-one/a-michael-noll (Accessed on 14.12.2014).

Figure 2B: Mondrian, P (1915) Fig 2B Composition No 10 Pier and Ocean (1915) [Oil on canvas] At: http://www.piet-mondrian.org/pier-and-ocean.jsp#prettyPhoto (Accessed on 14.12.2014).

Video sources:

Video 1: Paik, N.J (1965). Videofilm Concert [Art Music Video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEAUjFLSqXY (Accessed on 14.12.2014).

Video 2: Whitney, J (1975). Arabesque [Art Music Video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7h0ppnUQhE