Untitled (digital painting)

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Monique Nahas

1975

Colour CRT-generated image (512 × 512 raster) transferred to canvas via Cibachrome laminate

Description

Monique Nahas’s work visualizes her studies of algorithmically determined color, exploring the use of mathematical equations to generate random yet harmonious tonal combinations. Influenced by pointillist painting techniques as well as computational processes, this example demonstrates the careful calculation of color gradations. The image was generated using a computer program written by Nahas and the artist Hervé Huitric which controlled a cathode ray tube (CRT) display at a resolution of 512 by 512 pixels—very high for the time—and defined color values pixel by pixel. Because the computer system did not allow digital file export in the way we think of it today, the CRT image was photographed directly from the screen. The film transparency was then printed using Cibachrome, a high-fidelity process that produces exceptionally vivid and stable colors.