American Flag (prototype)

Aldo Giorgini's American Flag is not only a popular work of computer art but is a one-of-a-kind work-in-progress that shows the extensive process computer artists of the time faced when creating final printed works.

Since there were no printers as we know them today, the process was complicated.

1. First, Giorgini designed the work using algorithms coded in Fortran. 

2. Next, he printed the works using Purdue’s CalComp plotter, which could draw only lines and only on 36” paper rolls.

3. These plotter drawings were taken to Purdue’s printshop, which had a groundbreaking electrostatic printer/copy machine that could copy the drawings to mylar using a heat transfer of carbon.

4. Next Giorgini painted the large mylar copy, filling in the selected areas of the lines with solid black acrylic or India ink.

5. Giorgini then again copied the piece—this time copying the finished painting, creating a print with solid black shapes and no traces of any manual imperfections.

6. He then used these new copies to create silkscreens. He used a photo-emulsion screen-printing method, where he used photosensitive emulsion on silkscreen meshes, dried them in the dark, exposed them to light through the artwork, then washed out the unexposed areas in a home-studio darkroom to create the printing stencil.

7. Finally he used the stencil to make prints, which he printed in the driveway of his home with a squeegee.  

The prototype version seen here is from step 4, where he taped several copies together to create a full-scale version for step 5.

American Flag was made for the upcoming US Bicentennial and as a statement of gratitude by Giorgini, who was born under Mussolini’s dictatorship, lived as a child refugee in Eritrea (then Ethiopia), and eventually moved to the US where he was finally free to explore his engineering and art.

Giorgini was a civil engineer and specialist in atmospheric sciences who wrote computer programs that modeled hydraulic visualizations. His works often reflect his background. American Flag was popular and reproduced often, appearing on prints, posters, and even clothing.