Hybrid: Marcus West and Drivers: two exhibition openings and talks

Speakers

Marcus West, Stephen Bell and Sean Clark

Synopsis

Many people in the field of Computer Art are fascinated by the use of computers to participate in the process of drawing or artistic creation. By contrast, Marcus West is: ‘much more focused on the product, the result. My goal is to create images with impact, complexity and subtlety, works that are striking but that do not reveal all their secrets at a single glance. A theme in some works has been a sense of Light existing in their hinterland, such that the works may offer a glimpse beyond, perhaps even a glimpse of transcendence. Although the programs are written by me, they may still offer surprises as they unfold in detail, and I typically "tweak" various aspects of a program many times in my attempt to achieve the effect I am seeking.’

Drivers is an exhibition of work by Computer Arts Society (CAS) committee members, providing an insight into the range of practices of the people who coordinate the society's activities. The title alludes to the computer term "driver" which refers to a software interface that enables communication between hardware and operating system, and the ways in which the CAS committee are drivers of engagement in computer arts. Stephen Bell, the exhibition's curator, will give a brief overview of the show and some exhibitors will be available to discuss their work. Exhibitors: Anna Dumitriu, Catherine Mason, David Upton, Ernest Edmonds, Geoff Davis, Graham Diprose, Paul Brown, Sean Clark, Stephen Bell and Sue Gollifer. An online catalogue will also be available.

The presentations will be followed by musical works composed by West using the Synth100 in 1980 that will accompany the exhibition viewing and reception. The event will be recorded and uploaded to the CAS YouTube Channel.

Image credit: Marcus West, Fibonacci Image with changing blue cells emerging from an orange background, 2015.

About the speakers

Marcus West’s journey with digital art began in the 1970s at University College Cardiff, as it then was.

He created geometrically-inspired line drawings by writing programs in FORTRAN that ran on the university's mainframe computer, which in turn controlled a plotting device.

Since the early 2000s, he has mainly used Pascal and Processing to create his images, enhancing them using Photoshop and Affinity Photo.

Stephen Bell is an artist, educator and a member of the Computer Arts Society Committee.

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Computer Arts Society