Chris Crabtree

Canadian

1948

Chris Crabtree worked with computer-generated imagery at the Slade School of Fine Art during the 1970s, combining programming with printmaking. His work appears in contemporary experimental publications and is held in the UCL Art Collection.

Full Bio

Chris Crabtree studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, entering the Etching Department in 1972. Trained in traditional printmaking, he later worked at the Slade School of Fine Art as a technician and then as a research assistant in printmaking. During the 1970s, he was associated with the Slade’s Experimental and Computing Department, where artists worked with computer systems at a time when access to such technology was largely limited to scientific research environments.

Crabtree developed computer-generated drawings using programs he created, which were produced through established printmaking processes including photo-etching and lithography. In 1972, his work WAVES I won a Slade Prize and was transferred that year into UCL’s Art Collection, which now holds eighteen works by him. He also contributed to Working Information Vol. 3 in 1978, a publication documenting experimental and computer-assisted practices at the Slade School of Fine Art.