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An elegant merging
Comput & Graphics Vo]. 13, No, I, pp. 127-128. 1989
0097-8493/89 $3.00 + .IX) ~ 1989 Pergamon Pre~ plc
Pnnted in Great Bntain,
News a n d Views
AN ELEGANT MERGING KENVIN
LYMAN
Kansas City Art Institute, 4415 Warwick Blvd.. Kansas City, MO 64111
Perhaps no other visual movement in the history of art is as pervasive as what is now known as computer graphics. Its growth and influence have been staggering and the impact on western culture impossible to measure, It has permeated nearly everything in our lives from desktop publishing to the commercials and music videos we see on T.V. Computer graphics has become a mainstay in such fields as mechanical engineering, molecular biology and architecture. It is becoming widely accepted in even the most traditional areas of the visual arts and has already begun to return the dividends of an impending new visual renaissance. What is now called "computer graphics" has very eclectic roots not only in the primarily right brain pursuits of physics and math but in the primarily left brain disciplines of drawing, painting, perspective and color theory. The show, "An Elegant Merging," traced these two tributaries in a way that revealed this unusual convergence. The left brain tributary was represented by a range of breakthrough images such as the early texture mapping pieces by Jim Blinn and Martin Newell's "Utah Teapot" series. Henri Gouraud's series of three heads representing his early experiments in shading algorithms, and Bui Tuong Phong's "Champagne Glass"
Editor's Note." The Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery at Kansas City Art Institute began its 25th year in the forefront of contemporary art with an exhibit that examined the development of computer-assisted imagery over the past three decades. Appropriately titled, "An Elegant Merging," the show offered viewers an opportunity to see images created through computer technologyand other media that contributed to the new growth of computer graphics. The exhibit was on display from August 27 through September 25, 1988. Kenvin Lyman, director of the computer graphics center at the four-year college of art and design, is the curator of the mixed media show that featured a widearray ofart applications utilizing the computer. An extensive collection of film and video works in the exhibit demonstrated the progression of how computer technology has opened up a new frontier in the world of film and television.
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representing his famous improved shading algorithm, were also presented. The right brain tributary was represented by BackLit imaging and its dramatic mixed media approach in a wide range of work by artists Richard Taylor, Kenvin Lyman and John LeProvost. In the late sixties, Taylor and Lyman developed special effect techniques that laid the foundation for later breakthrough work for ABC Television and Seven-Up, which was done at Robert Abel & Associates in Los Angeles, in the seventies. The Abel work exerted a dramatic influence on the production of television commercials and the new special-effects film genre, starting with "Star Wars." This new, very American, mixed-media film look became the "act to follow" for the computer graphics industry from the early seventies. As the two processes converged, a new visual movement was born. In addition, the show contained a powerful range of motion work including pre-computer special-effects pioneering experiments by Oscar Fischinger, early computer work by John Whitney Sr., early back-lit and computer experiments by Kenvin Lyman, and early work from Robert Abel & Associates including the Seven-Up commercial "Bubbles" that won the studio its first Clio. Also included was work by Ivan Sutherland, who many consider to be the father of computer graphics. Jim Blinn's work for NASA and a range of work from the University of Utah experiments of the late sixties was also included. The show presented work by Gary Demos and John Whitney Jr., as well as Richard Taylor's original Adam Powers storyboard for Triple i, seen as flat art. Pixar, Evans and Sutherland, BTS and MAGI are some of the companies which were also represented in the show. Kansas City Art Institute presented this unique exhibition which viewed the computer not only as a pure visual tool but also as a collaborative multi-media tool. This may have been the first time a computer graphics retrospective of this scope was assembled, and the first time a show revealing this rare and unique convergence of art and science was assembled.
128
KENVIN LYMAN
Fig. 4. "Birthday Party" by Kenvin Lyman, 1983.
Fig. 1. "Smooth Shaded Head" by Henri Gouraud, 1972.
Fig. 2. Ivan Sutherland's Computer Engineering Class at the University of Utah, 1970.
Fig. 3. "'Tron Poster" by Richard Taylor, 1981.
Fig. 5. Donald Lee Vicker's "Head Mounted, Display & Wand."
Fig. 6. Bui Tuong Phong's "'Champagne Glass with Improved Shading,"
0097-8493/89 $3.00 + .IX) ~ 1989 Pergamon Pre~ plc
Pnnted in Great Bntain,
News a n d Views
AN ELEGANT MERGING KENVIN
LYMAN
Kansas City Art Institute, 4415 Warwick Blvd.. Kansas City, MO 64111
Perhaps no other visual movement in the history of art is as pervasive as what is now known as computer graphics. Its growth and influence have been staggering and the impact on western culture impossible to measure, It has permeated nearly everything in our lives from desktop publishing to the commercials and music videos we see on T.V. Computer graphics has become a mainstay in such fields as mechanical engineering, molecular biology and architecture. It is becoming widely accepted in even the most traditional areas of the visual arts and has already begun to return the dividends of an impending new visual renaissance. What is now called "computer graphics" has very eclectic roots not only in the primarily right brain pursuits of physics and math but in the primarily left brain disciplines of drawing, painting, perspective and color theory. The show, "An Elegant Merging," traced these two tributaries in a way that revealed this unusual convergence. The left brain tributary was represented by a range of breakthrough images such as the early texture mapping pieces by Jim Blinn and Martin Newell's "Utah Teapot" series. Henri Gouraud's series of three heads representing his early experiments in shading algorithms, and Bui Tuong Phong's "Champagne Glass"
Editor's Note." The Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery at Kansas City Art Institute began its 25th year in the forefront of contemporary art with an exhibit that examined the development of computer-assisted imagery over the past three decades. Appropriately titled, "An Elegant Merging," the show offered viewers an opportunity to see images created through computer technologyand other media that contributed to the new growth of computer graphics. The exhibit was on display from August 27 through September 25, 1988. Kenvin Lyman, director of the computer graphics center at the four-year college of art and design, is the curator of the mixed media show that featured a widearray ofart applications utilizing the computer. An extensive collection of film and video works in the exhibit demonstrated the progression of how computer technology has opened up a new frontier in the world of film and television.
t27
representing his famous improved shading algorithm, were also presented. The right brain tributary was represented by BackLit imaging and its dramatic mixed media approach in a wide range of work by artists Richard Taylor, Kenvin Lyman and John LeProvost. In the late sixties, Taylor and Lyman developed special effect techniques that laid the foundation for later breakthrough work for ABC Television and Seven-Up, which was done at Robert Abel & Associates in Los Angeles, in the seventies. The Abel work exerted a dramatic influence on the production of television commercials and the new special-effects film genre, starting with "Star Wars." This new, very American, mixed-media film look became the "act to follow" for the computer graphics industry from the early seventies. As the two processes converged, a new visual movement was born. In addition, the show contained a powerful range of motion work including pre-computer special-effects pioneering experiments by Oscar Fischinger, early computer work by John Whitney Sr., early back-lit and computer experiments by Kenvin Lyman, and early work from Robert Abel & Associates including the Seven-Up commercial "Bubbles" that won the studio its first Clio. Also included was work by Ivan Sutherland, who many consider to be the father of computer graphics. Jim Blinn's work for NASA and a range of work from the University of Utah experiments of the late sixties was also included. The show presented work by Gary Demos and John Whitney Jr., as well as Richard Taylor's original Adam Powers storyboard for Triple i, seen as flat art. Pixar, Evans and Sutherland, BTS and MAGI are some of the companies which were also represented in the show. Kansas City Art Institute presented this unique exhibition which viewed the computer not only as a pure visual tool but also as a collaborative multi-media tool. This may have been the first time a computer graphics retrospective of this scope was assembled, and the first time a show revealing this rare and unique convergence of art and science was assembled.
128
KENVIN LYMAN
Fig. 4. "Birthday Party" by Kenvin Lyman, 1983.
Fig. 1. "Smooth Shaded Head" by Henri Gouraud, 1972.
Fig. 2. Ivan Sutherland's Computer Engineering Class at the University of Utah, 1970.
Fig. 3. "'Tron Poster" by Richard Taylor, 1981.
Fig. 5. Donald Lee Vicker's "Head Mounted, Display & Wand."
Fig. 6. Bui Tuong Phong's "'Champagne Glass with Improved Shading,"