Nora by David Em (1979) 'TAMU HVS EMPHASIS'

INPUT 1 (April 15, 2013)

Very interesting digital artist that has pioneered as one of the first computer-conceptual art, and his name stays relevant today. This specific artist virtually introduced the world to one of the first 3D imaging surfaces ever produced. 

Today, his art is specified in 4 subgroups, worlds, spirits, artifacts, and metamorphoses.

David Em is an artist I was not quite familiar with until today, but for his time and through his development, I see a very respectful and hard-determined field of art that involves many different aspects with regards to the spiritual, the scientific, the virtual, the unbelievable, the admirable, and the fascinating.

Virtually this art is represented in several ways to interpret, but I will first try to give my interpretation on it. As seen the colors used in this “computer imaging” that Mr. Em calls it himself is toned with dark colors which rises comfort, but the different panels in irregular directions creates a sense of loss protectiveness.

Moreover, I feel like there is a strong use of somewhat common geometrical figures that creates a sense of belonging.  I must say that it is rather hard to imagine how this imaging would have been perceived by me if seen in 1979 rather than 2013 where such art can be done much easier than it was done at the time.

At last, there is a poem written about the artist from famous science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury that depicts what sort of panels of thoughts professionals thought of when seeing David Em’s work.

See source 3 if text is too small

SOURCE:

1.      http://www.davidem.com/01_art/0_art_lead_page/art_lead.html

2.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Em

3.      http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/David_Em/

4.      http://books.google.com/books?id=UK_jTggtYl8C&pg=PT464&lpg=PT464&dq=david+em+nora&source=bl&ots=i0tZf6n64o&sig=gKMURHMyyYZ_S8NFN-aEaXw5hEo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pRFsUeP-COWp2QWW1oD4Ag&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBQ

5.http://academic.cengage.com/art/book_content/0495569097_fichner/ArtExperience_9e/assets/podcasts/Contemporary/MediaExplosion/index.html

INPUT 2 (April 17, 2013)

Today, I contacted the people behind David Em's official website to get more insight on how the production of 'Nora' was made. It has not been the easiest task to extract information about this specific work of David Em. Hopefully, I will hear back from them so that I can share information with the public.

Nevertheless, I will not leave my readers without something to get intrigued about for the day. I am doing some research on some books that hopefully will involve a part where the work of David Em was described, for today, I discovered a different side of the artist, and his love for Graffiti. Please take time to see the video that will direct your understanding of Los Angeles street artists.

SOURCES:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlMKt1gbTR0

2. http://www.davidem.com/03_contact/successfully_sent.html

INPUT 3 (April 22, 2013)

Not more than two days of wait! The humble people behind David Em's website sent me a reply on my questions regarding Nora, and here it is!

I am currently researching this equipment of use, and hopefully I will have more insight on it, soon. Nevertheless, I found the book I was looking for, and within the next couple of days, I will share some insight with you regarding David Em and specifically the work 'Nora'.

The Book
The Art of David Em: 100 Computer Paintings
Texts by David A. Ross and David Em
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York
ISBN 0-8109-1044-6

Sneak-peak LEFT: Action (1979) RIGHT: Nora (1979) pages 34-35 of book

INPUT 4 (May 3, 2013)

Reading and analyzing the book has given me quite the insight on how David Em went around and approached the technological art. In the beginning of the book is a message from David A. Ross (CV:http://artpractice.sva.edu/faculty.html) describing the revolution of technology intact with art.

Mr. Ross mentions: "It was the Korean-born video art pioneer Nam June Paik who first predicted the future for this medium in discussion of the potential of the Paik-Abe video synthesizer, an early analog computer that was capable of distorting, reshaping, and recoloring (or colorizing) video."

Moreover, the frame buffer described in INPUT 3 e-mail is something "Em worked with a group of engineers to devise a relatively sophisticated frame-buffer, and electronic device that stores and displays a single frame of video information (the contents of one full video screen). It functions as the video counterpart to a blank canvas upon which an electronic painting can be created from scratch.

David Em pioneered in his work by trying to create his own paint, but he came to understand that what he had envisioned was impossible without mechanical media, so with time, other artists, and engineers; they developed a working frame buffer that could duplicate the capabilities of Xerox system in low resolution.

It is overall a good book where David Em himself talks about the pleasure of creating art without natural light like the impressionists, but rather with electronic light.

Moreover, the plates includes in his book are:

1. MAR. 1985
2. DESEOS. 1983
3. NAVAJO. 1978
4. HILLS. 1985
5. MIX 3. 1979
6. BILL. 1981
7. SAMUEL. 1979
8. EL NOTRE. 1986
9. HATTIE ROSE. 1979
10. FLARE. 1981
11. AMOR. 1980
12. VOLKAN. 1982
13. REDBAL. 1980
14. ACTION. 1979
15. NORA. 1979
16. TRANSJOVIAN PIPELINE. 1979
17. MING. 1979
18. BAGHDAD. 1979
19. GANDHI. 1979
20. APAINT 3. 1987
21. TMI. 1985
22. AT 20 WE  WENT THERE. 1985
23. THE FAR AWAY. 1986
24. ZOTZ'. 1985
25. BARBERA. 1986
26. MOUNTAIN 2. 1979
27. PURPTWIS. 1983
28. LLANOS. 1985
29. EDUARDO. 1985
30. JOE AND NARTUHI. 1985
31. CHIN LI. 1985
32. -| (DASH SLASH). 1983 Acrylic on paper
33. AKU 1978
34. EGG 2. 1979
35. KAOS. 1980
36. PATRICIA. 1980
37. ZWIRLZ. 1987
38. PARTY PARTY PARTY. 1986
39. EL SALTO. 1985 Acrylic on paper
40. CARIBOU 1. 1979
41. TWIST 1. 1980
42. JOSÉ. 1985
43. HEAVEN. 1986
44. TERRYL. 1986
45. WHERE 3. 1979
46. APPROACH. 1979
47. DRESDEN. 1979
48. LIZA 2. 1979
49. CALIGARI. 1978
50. SOUTH TEMPLE. 1981
51. KOLUMN.  1982
52. BRAXIS. 1979
53. STYX. 1979
54. APARTHEID. 1981
55. SUMA. 1980
56. JASPER. 1980
57. MAYA. 1982
58. PERSEPOL. 1980
59. RAGNAROK. 1980
60. AFTERMATH. 1980
61.CHANG. 1979
62. KIRBY 1. 1979
63. GALAXY. 1974 Mixed media on sheetrock
64. GUSTAF. 1985
65. BLANC. 1985 Oil on canvas
66. KO. 1981
67. SPERM. 1980
68. JELLY. 1979
69. CENTER 4B. 1979
70. PERZIA. 1980
71. TEMPLETWIST. 1983
72. ADONDE 2. 1981
73. SUBTER 4. 1980
74. GABRIEL. 1980
75. VISION 10. 1980
76. ESCHER. 1979
77. DREAM. 1979
78. VOLANDO. 1979
79. WAVE. 1979
80. ELLEN. 1986
81. SELF A. 1982-1983
82. INVIERNO. 1984 Oil on canvas
83. TURNER. 1985
84. SALVADOR. 1982 Oil on board
85. PILLARS. 1986
86. ART 3. 1987
87. CARIBOU 2. 1986
88. DAGGER. 1987
89. NUBES. 1985
90. SUNRISE. 1985
91. THE FIVE OF US. 1983
92. KLEE. 1986
93. SPARK. 1986
94. MICHELE. 1986
95. TOLTEC. 1985
96. STRETCH. 1986
97. PAINTING 6. 1986
98. XIBALBA. 1986
99. TEEC NOS POS. 1985
100. VOL. 1986

This is a list of the works included in the book. Unfortunately, I can not upload any of these pictures due to copyrights, but I strongly encourage the purchase of the book or to find it in a local library to explore the phenomena created through scientific machinery.

INPUT 5 (May 3, 2013)

In the technical note of the book, I found the system that Nora was made with in nature with the e mail I received.

"the heart of the system I worked with consisted of a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP 11/55 minicomputer with an Evans and Sutherland 8-bit frame buffer and Picture System 2 (an interactive vector display system) hooked up to it and Conrac RGB monitor. The system allowed be to select from palette of over 16 million colors, although I could display only 256 of them on the screen at any one time."