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Ahead of his time:
Frederick Hammersley’s Computer Drawings
In 1968, Frederick Hammersley came to Albuquerque to teach in the
art department of The University of New Mexico. He was between
periods of productivity with his painting (the time, he says, when
the librarian in his head is eagerly cataloging everything he sees,
hears, and discusses, collating the raw materials which will go into
his next generative period) and looking for new ideas and
inspiration.
The University of New Mexico had just upgraded their IBM mainframe
1401 Computer System. Dick Williams, a computer business owner and
friend of Charles Mattox, a local sculptor and teacher at UNM,
thought it might be interesting to see what artists would do with a
computer to make art, which it was (of course) not designed to do.
Mattox invited members of the art faculty to attend a computer class
so they could learn how to make programs for drawing.
In 1968 computers still filled whole rooms with their banks of
processors and programs for them were entered onto punch cards. A
personal computer (especially one you could hold in the palm of your
hand) was a barely imagined thing of the future, and no one would
have thought that computers would become a prominent tool of the
art-world through the use of digital imaging, photo-shop, the
Internet, and advanced drafting and drawing tools. Not only that but
computer-time was then at a premium. Records from the University
show that fees for using their newly upgraded 14000 CORE IBM for
data processing were between $100-$175 an hour (exorbitant now, all
the more so then).
Imagine the keenness then that the University must have had in
pairing a group of artists with this new technology. But the new and
not-yet-imagined is always the province of artists. An intrepid
group from the University of New Mexico Art department faculty
learned how to prepare a computer program and transfer it to an IBM
punch card machine. The alphanumeric characters that were available
for them to use in drawing were: the alphabet, ten numerals, and
eleven symbols (punctuation like periods, commas, dashes, etc.)
Frederick Hammersley was one of the inquisitive staff members who
started work on the computer. Working only with the available
characters, Hammersley spent weeks creating a dictionary which would
show the values from dark to light of the various characters and
combinations of characters (they could be printed one on top of
another, two deep). By combining different layers of letters,
numbers, and symbols, he was able to create a variety of shapes and
values (light and dark). For example an “H” layered with at “I” had
an interesting look. A “1” layered with an “=” would look very
different from a “1” overlain with a “+”.
When he had his dictionary, Hammersley was able to use this
assortment of characters to create drawings of shapely beauty. He
would spend all morning writing up sets of instructions which when
entered onto punch card could then be executed in minutes. He would
specify which areas on the rows and columns to print. A sent of
instructions might be, for example: columns 1 to 15, 20 rows deep
with “A”. The areas printed with two characters in the same spot
look almost painted.
The artists working on the computer were all exploring the medium in
different ways. Hammersley began in 1968 and worked solidly on
computer drawings throughout 1969, ending with 72 distinct drawings
in the medium. A group exhibit of the work was developed by Charlie
Mattox that traveled to various organizations, including the
Institute of Contemporary Art in London and a University in Ireland.
Response was mixed; some commented that while the drawings were
“interesting” they had nothing to do with “art”. However, this was a
response Hammersley was used to as a painter working in geometric
abstraction at a time when few people understood or supported the
work.
Hammersley felt his excursion into the world of computer-generated
art was valuable, bringing new insight to his painting when he
returned to it in 1970 (when his desire to be back working with his
hands and his store of ideas had been replenished). He feels that
one of the most valuable lessons learned from this medium concerned
values and how you can make very little moves to achieve action. For
example the juxtaposition of a block of periods with a block of
apostrophes creates an up and down motion. It is a natural event
caused by the nature of the characters. An incredibly subtle
difference creates a striking effect.
Since the late 1960’s Hammersley’s own painting grew in its
exploration of geometric abstraction; he came to use fewer and fewer
shapes, pairing down to basics that give us works of surprising
sophistication. And of course, since the 1960’s computers have also
changed, becoming smaller, faster, and more pliable. A computer can
now be used in the art world for drafting, drawing, photo-shopping,
and numerous other applications. Works can be created and printed
that look deceptively like a traditional painting. However, in many
ways the drawings done by Hammersley in the late 60’s seem more true
to the nature of computers for their use of the simple contrasts of
black on white, line and circle, and alternations of pattern,
reminiscent and exemplary of the binary system that computers used
to function.
It is amazing the varieties and subtlety achieved in Hammersley’s
computer drawings. With such a limited palette of characters, space,
and color, Hammersley was able to create nuanced drawings of
movement, pattern and optical illusion. When you look closely at
grouping of periods surrounded by a grouping of apostrophes the
difference between them is miniscule, hard even for the eye to
perceive. But looking at the whole drawing, the shift and shape is
unmistakable. The drawings are maps that lead the eye back and forth
between the general and the particular, the microcosm and macrocosm.
They are remarkable, not only for their historical significance, but
for the astonishing mastery of movement and form they display amidst
limitation.
Clairol 1969 |
.JPG)
