Johnny Von Neuman

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

George Stibitz

1988

Photocopy

11"x17"

Description

This digital portrait of John von Neumann (1903–1957)—a polymath renowned for his influential discoveries in the fields of mathematics, quantum mechanics, and game theory—was created by George Stibitz using Deluxe Paint on an Amiga 500. It uses the language of early computer graphics to create a surprisingly painterly homage. Built from luminous pixels, the image achieves a velvety surface through dense fields of dark blue offset by pale, softly modeled areas of skin and light. The effect evokes traditional portrait painting while foregrounding the granular structure of digital imagery.

Stibitz—best known for his research at Bell Labs and foundational work in computer design—approached such images as playful, exploratory extensions of his technical career rather than as “important art.” Conceived as a tribute to von Neumann’s role in the development of binary circuitry and modern computing, this portrait delights in the expressive possibilities of the machines that its subject helped bring into being.

In 1990 letter to the chair of math and science dept at Ohio’s Denison University, Stibitz wrote: “I have turned to non-verbal uses of the computer, and have made a display of computer ‘art.’ The quotes are obligatory, for the result of my efforts is not to create important art but to show that this activity is fun, much as the creation of computers was fifty years ago.”