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Artist Review: Harold Cohen

Born in London in 1928, Harold Cohen studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London before becoming a teacher there himself and eventually joining the Visual Arts Dept. in 1968. His digital work did not begin until he moved to San Francisco, when he became interested in computer programming and in artificial intelligence. in 1971, he was invited to spend 2 years at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of Stanford University. The most important result of this, in relation to his art, is the ongoing programming project called AARON, which produces art that looks like freehand work. AARON has been producing artwork, in multiple styles, since the 70's into the modern day.

Some of the computer generated worked produced by Cohen are more abstract, like the one I began this post with. Others, like the one to the left, have clearer, more recognizable figures in them. AARON's earliest works were just in black and white, but as can be seen in its later works it moved on to color. This switch to color from black and white creates an almost more human element to the works, even though they are created entirely by a program, making them feel warmer and more welcoming to the eye. In a way, it shows a sort of evolution in the program's works, much like you would see in a human artist, though ultimately this evolution is brought on by the one altering the program.

I enjoy the works created by Cohen and AARON mostly because I enjoy seeing what computers are capable of when left mostly to their own devices. I find it fascinating that a computer, given the right input, can create both images we could easily attribute to a computer and images that we could easily mistake for having been hand drawn. Though one might say that there is something missing from completely computer generated artwork, some sort of emotional quality that is missing, I would say this is not the case. Though the art itself is computer generated, some human input had to go into it to help produce the images, and I believe that is enough to help the computer produce a piece that has just as much emotional value as something produced entirely by hand.

Information from:
http://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/aaron/hi_cohenbio.html
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/artist/cohen/biography/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARON

Images From:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/cohen-harold/6433/

Artist Review: David Fuhrer

"The Homeworld" (2010) (Original Image at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Homeworld/421212)

David Fuhrer is an artist born in Switzerland in 1985 whom I first found out about through a blog post titled "20 Amazing Digital Artists to Follow on Behance" (Link can be found at the end of this post). He is a self-taught digital artists who uses programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Sketchbook, and Painter to create his works. Fuhrer began his work with digital art in 2004/2005 and began his official portfolio in 2005. He states that his work is based on "imagination and life" and can take anywhere between weeks and months to create. In addition to being a digital artist, he also does work as an interactive designer.

"BotWorld" (2010) (Original Image at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Misc-Artworks/740752)

"Heart Shaped Box" (2010) (Original Image at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Misc-Artworks/740752)

Fuhrer's works range from fantastical landscape type pieces, such as BotWorld above and The Homeworld at the beginning of this post, to more abstract pieces, like the above Heart Shaped Box and Red Apple below. The other piece I have included below, Drug-Free Zone, falls somewhere in between. He describes his favorite types of works to create as "something surreal. I don't like real things too much." This is very clear in his work, as the wide variety of colors and unusual shapes in his art create an image of a fantasy world where reality doesn't apply. The brightness of many of the pieces creates a sort of welcoming feeling, like the places in the art would be a fun place to go. There are a few pieces that go against this theme in his portfolio though, such as Black Death, which I have included later in this post.

"Red Apple" (2009) (Original Image found at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Red-Apple/166190)

"Drug-Free Zone" (2007) (Original Image found at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Drug-Free-Zone/51890)

I really enjoy Fuhrer's work because of how surreal they are. I have always enjoyed art of novel landscapes, and the bright colors and fantastical landscapes and objects in his works immediately drew me in the first time I saw one of his pieces. His art does not, on the whole, necessarily have a lot of deeper meaning to it, but I don't think that takes away from it. I can still look at his pieces, especially his landscape works, and imagine what it might be like to be there and what sorts of things might happen in such a place, and I think that for a piece of art to have that kind of draw and power is a very positive quality. I simply do not have the space to include every one of his works that I like here; I recommend visiting his portfolio on Behance if you are interested in viewing more of his work.

 

 (At Right: Black Death (2010) (Original Image found at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Black-Death/746909)

At Left, Above and Below: "Air" (2007) (Original Image found at:  http://www.behance.net/gallery/Air/51893)

All quoted text in this post is taken from Fuhrer's interview with Emil Agarunov, cited below.

Websites used:
Agarunov, Emil "Interview with David Fuhrer, AKA Microbot" psd tuts+. Web. http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-david-fuhrer-aka-microbot/

Fuhrer, David "David Fuhrer" Behance. Web. http://www.behance.net/Microbot#page=1&sort=creatives_order