Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

Artwork: Structure de Quadrilatères
Artist: Duncan Geere

The series of work I’ve chosen is Structure de Quadrilatères by Vera Mulnar, a Hungarian-born artist who many consider a pioneer of digital and algorithmic art.

I admire this work because there is an architectural quality to it that I quite enjoy. These works feature a series of quadrilaterals drawn with ink on paper.
However, each shape contains a degree of randomness – corners are offset and then returned to their original positions, heights and widths are lengthened and shortened randomly (probably through either a general random function or through perlin noise). The shapes overlap, shift and move in a way that gives the impression of vibration. Despite being composed purely of straight lines and rigid shapes (no curves), the work is dynamic yet controlled and invites the viewer to explore the identity of a shape.

Molnar’s experiments with generative art predate the cokmputer,
inventing the ‘machine imaginaire’ (ie. algorithms) follow a series of rules to create an artwork. After teaching herself the earliest programming language (Fortran), she fed punched cards into a computer which was attached to a plotter which moved a pencil or pen over a piece of paper. The discipline required to execute such a process as well as the intensity to even consider such an exploration in the first place is very evident in the final works.

Molnar is credited with saying: ‘My life is squares, triangles, lines. I am mad about lines’ and upon viewing her work, one can only agree.

Links:
https://www.artsy.net/artist/vera-molnar-1
https://spalterdigital.com/artists/vera-molnar/