Plotter output of topological 3D Mappings

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Ruth Leavitt

1977

Plotter Drawing

Black Rotring ink on Mylar; 22 × 30 in; signed and dated ‘Leavitt 77’.

Highlights

Description

Plotter output of topological 3D Mappings captures Ruth Leavitt’s vision of the computer as a tool for achieving what could not be done by hand. The patterns in it stretch and distort as if they were drawn on a rubber sheet. The work reflects her broader approach to distortion and variation, developed from her early “stretching program” and informed by her background in Abstract Expressionist painting.

Three mapped surfaces are set side by side, each produced by a pen plotter that rendered digital calculations as lines of black Rotring ink. Leavitt generated the work with a Fortran program based on her idea of deforming a grid, applying transformations such as expansion, contraction, and rotation. The program recorded these operations as coordinates, which the plotter inscribed directly onto the sheet.

Perspective is central to Plotter output of topological 3D Mappings, as the same geometric object is presented from different angles. By placing the three mapped surfaces side by side, the work shows how shifting perspective alters what can be seen. Each view brings forward new details and changes the sense of depth, giving the flat drawings a three-dimensional appearance.

Collector Notes

This piece was shown as part of the "Radical Software" exhibit in 2024. Sadly, Leavitt passed away just shortly after traveling to see the exhibit in Europe.