Mark Wilson: SKEW E9

Artist(s):

• Mark Wilson

Title:

SKEW E9

Exhibition:

• SIGGRAPH 1998: Touchware

Creation Year:

1983

Medium:

Color plot on paper

Size:

20" x 38"

Category:

• 2D & Wall-Hung

Keywords:

• abstract
• plotter drawing

Artist Statement:

Prior to 1980, my work as an abstract painter was involved with complex geometric imagery. In 1980, I bought a Tl 99/4A home computer and had a marvelous time learning to write simple programs in BASIC. Then, as now, output devices had questionable archival qualities. However, a pen plotter using proper inks and paper, could make lovely – and permanent – drawings.

My software was constantly evolving in a trial and error process, and I hit on a technique of mapping pixels onto a planar surface. Unlike the prevailing concern in the computer graphics community with realistic 3D images, my interests lay in abstraction, intricacy, and textures. These visual preoccupations were nurtured by the interactive process of making images while constantly tinkering with my software.

SKEW E9 was plotted in 1983 using the original IBM PC with a Color Graphics Adapter and a Tektronix 4663 pen plotter.

To illustrate the continuity – or, perhaps the obstinacy – of my visual notions, the recent work comes from a 1997 edition of laser prints called Vectors:Textures.