Roman Verostko April 9 to May 25
A founding member of the algorists presents selections from 20 years of algorithmic pen and brush drawing. Among his vast repertoire, seven colorful cyberflowers are featured in our main gallery. Our Grand Opening on April 13 also includes a suite of sonic compositions by Jeremy Wagner based on Roman’s code for these cyberflowers.
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| Complete set of the "Flowers of Learning" |
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Above: "Flower of Learning, "Darwin" and a detail showing pen & ink drawing strokes. A complete set of the "Flowers of Learning" edition is shown in our main gallery.
Quotations below are exerpts from Roman's writings on his work.
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| "My approach to art holds a reverence for the materials of earth and a sense of wonder about most things including circuit boards and computer languages. I strive to create well crafted works with iconic qualities that evoke mystery and act as signs pointing to some greater reality. . . |
Rocktown Scrolls, "All the world is a stage", 2007
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. . . The texture and quality of materials are carefully chosen and transformed in the process. For me, the work should have an aura that draws the casual viewer to pause for a moment recognizing that the work embodies a human endeavor going beyond material concerns. . ."
Statement 1993
(All quotes are from Roman's writings) |
Rocktown Scrolls: To see a world in a grain of sand
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"In every instance I seek to evolve an image that would be simultaneously unlike anything seen before, yet surprisingly believable in terms of its own reality. I believe that such imagery provides 'experience clues' about the nature of realities which are outside the scope of rational consciousness." Imaging the Unseen, 1972
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Pearl Park Scriptures: Lao Tzu on beauty (2005). (A series based on meditations in Pearl Park).
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"My paintings are not assertions of a kind of "knowing"; they exhibit no conclusions. I discover myself being here within a process. My works are human marks to celebrate my growing and living within this process." 1963 Catalogue Statement, Westmoreland County Museum of Art
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Aladdin's Lamp, 1991. Algorithmic pen & brush drawing with gold leaf.
Aladdins lamp includes the full range of algorithmic techniques mastered by Roman in the 1980's. The brush strokes were made with Chinese brushes mounted on the drawing arm of the artist's pen plotter and were achieved with a single set of control points that governed the visual structure of every pen stroke in the work. The procedure yields an in depth "self similarity" permeating the whole. The artist's code, as if by "magic", generated the rising forms that evoked the title "Aladdin's Lamp". This rare work may be seen in the westernmost window of the Nina Bliese Gallery facing Sixth Street.
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