Crystal Xue-LookingOutwards-02

Art That Makes Itself Symposium 2015 | Frieder Nake

Frieder Nake is a mathematician and computer artist. He is also the founding father of digital computer art. He raised a question of “Do calculating machines like drawing?” and he tried to solve it by experimenting with digital artwork. A computer is a tool equally as useful as a brush and paints which turn the open infinite process into a determined finite process.

http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/artwork/1208

This is one of his famous artwork “Walk-Through Raster” done in 1972 was particularly interesting to me. He color-plotted squares in yellow, orange and blue with different grid dimensions. The variations of depth and density are shown through the layering of the grids. It is a full series of art compositions. To me, it is similar to how computer screen works. Zooming in to the resolution of the display, all we can see are color squares. A lot his work was also based on political points which takes the merely aesthetic compositions to the next level.