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Ahead of his time:
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| 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. Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Contemporary American and European Art |
