Chastique (untitled)

1972

Painting

NotAComputer

Description

This is a 1972 oil painting on canvas made by Aldo Giorgini in collaboration with Dan Cook. The work is an early example of Giorgini’s creative output, from the period just before he began to experiment with computer art in the mid-1970s.

At the time Giorgini, was a full-time assistant professor of civil engineering at Purdue University. But from an early age he had been drawn to painting; before studying engineering he was apprenticed to the artist Ambrogio Casati, restoring war-damaged frescoes and oil paintings in 1950s Italy.

Inspired in part by his scientific research, which involved computational simulation and visualization of data—hydromechanics was a particular focus at the time — Giorgini returned to art-making with a series of small paintings entitled Chastiques, of which this is a typical example. He set up an art studio in his basement, where he developed a wet-on-wet technique for mixing enamels and acrylics to create what he described as “fantastic, organic-like forms.”

The title of the series was derived from the word “stochastic,” connecting the unpredictable painting process to the simulations Giorgini was researching. While he continued to employ the technique occasionally, he soon turned his attention to the artistic possibilities of computers and plotters.

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