Designs of the Free

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Lloyd Sumner

1968

Plotter Drawing

12" x 9"

Description

Lloyd Sumner described himself as a “tomorrow artist” who worked with ideas rather than visible ~~subjects~~. He believed the computer could convey thought through structure and form, and he used programming to translate those ideas into images.

Designs of the Free is a series of curved lines in blue ink on paper, generated through programmed instructions on a Burroughs B5500 computer and plotted with a Calcomp 565. The rounded lines twist in space, creating areas of greater and lesser density that give the image a steady rhythm. Sumner described the purpose of computer art as creating an effect in the viewer’s mind, and here that idea is realized through the movement of the lines, which guide the eye across the surface and produce a sense of calm through balance and repetition.

Sumner placed his signature very close to the subject. This feature, which recurs across his work, may reflect his view of artist and machine as collaborators in the creative process.