University of Virginia Library

Mechanized Masterpieces

Computer Science, Art

By Mike Russell

Talk about computers, and people
will envision a vast mechanical
complex, well lit and air-conditioned,
housing an impersonal brain
in the process of replacing mankind.
Talk about computers and
people will think of stooped, old
and slightly neurotic men scurrying
around serving the wants of the
machine. Talk about computers and
people, in the near future, will have
to think about Computer Art.

In our highly technical society,
the artistic and creative elements
have for some time been relegated
to a position of secondary importance.
As this country strived for
greater and greater heights of material
superiority, the more sensitive,
less technical person found
himself in the mechanical wake.

Technology and art, however
are on the verge of meeting, and
one of the men who will be responsible
for the sensitization of technology
is Lloyd Sumner, whose
work in computer art will change
the parameters of the art world and
the outlook of the technician.

Computer Art and Human Response
is Mr. Sumner's first collection
of prints to be published.
While the University supplied the
computer, Mr. Sumner supplied the
inspiration which led to the production
of this book and its publication
by Paul Victorius, the owner
of a picture-framing shop on the
Corner.

Paging through the book, one is
first struck by the intricacy of
design, and the often found myriad
of colors that in some places become
the foundation for design.
Indeed, awe is perhaps the best way
in which to view his work, for
certainly the level of excellence he
achieved is awesome. Beyond the
prints are the explanations written
by Mr. Sumner which characterize
his feelings, the same feelings which
led to the creation of the picture.

One would normally expect to
find a person who could produce a
collection like this in an art school.
Mr. Sumner has proven that this no
longer has to be the case. From
1962-1967 he was an undergraduate
in the School of Engineering.
As part of his requirements for
a degree it was necessary that he
prepare an undergraduate thesis.
Having for some time been interested
both in art and the computer,
Mr. Sumner decided to combine
the two into a new art medium.

Using the computer as a tool to
do what he couldn't by hand, Mr.
Sumner developed the various
prints in one of two ways. He
would sometimes sketch the figure
that he had in mind on a piece of
paper, and from there he would
progress to describing that figure in
mathematical terms and equations.
His other method of approach was
to think of an equation and then

imagine the print that it would
produce. His final piece of work,
however was the culmination of a
number trials, and re-programming
of the computer until he achieved
the desired affect.

Some pictures took him a matter
of hours to produce, other a
matter of weeks. One of his most
famous prints, 'The Rotunda,"
took three weeks.

Mr. Sumner considers the prints
to be art rather than exercises in
computer technology and plans to
make computer art his full time
endeavor as a matter of "peace of
mind."

The publication of the book
evolved around some rather unusual
circumstances. Mr. Sumner had for
some time been producing these
prints as part of his thesis, and in
order to preserve them had them
mounted at Mr. Victorius' framing
shop. At the time of his first
display at the University last
Spring, Mr. Sumner was contemplating
the publication of a book
and had inquired into the possibilities
with several different companies.
One day during the exhibition,
Mr. Victorius contacted Mr.
Sumner and attended the showing
with him. A discussion of Mr.
Sumner's plans ensued and Mr.
Victorius offered to publish the
book.

Mr. Sumner agreed for several
reasons, the most important being
the factor of personal freedom. Mr.
Victorius gave him a completely
free hand in the layout, content,
prints, captions, and approach. This
opportunity, he might not have had
anywhere else. Speed was the
second factor which caused Mr.
Sumner to accept Mr. Victorius'
offer. Another company might have
delayed the publication of the
book for several years while attempting
to reorganize Mr.
Sumner's intentions.

For the present Mr. Sumner
intends to stay in Charlottesville
near the computer center. Presently
he is engaged in directing a film
made up entirely of computer art.
He plans to begin with one drawing,
and gradually, in a frame by frame
process, to slightly alter the parameters
and equations of that first
drawing until it becomes another.
Computers have been used in films
before, to trace wave patterns of air
flow, but Mr. Sumner, by using
prints and altering them from frame
to frame is creating another first.